


Captain Marvel and Vanitas

by The_Unlimited



Series: Light and Avengers [1]
Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Kingdom Hearts (Video Games), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Add in of new characters, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, I never learned what the hell I'm doing, OC Vanitas, Pre-Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24843184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Unlimited/pseuds/The_Unlimited
Summary: Before Xehanort drew Eraqus's pupils from home as part of his master plan to form the χ-blade, Vanitas flew down to the world of Earth 616 to investigate strange activity around the world. That strange activity led to him teaming up with a Kree soldier and a member of a secret Organization on Earth dealing with some crazy shapeshifters, who are actually the good guys. When exactly did being the youngest Keyblade Master ever get so complicated?
Relationships: Carol Danvers & Maria Rambeau & Monica Rambeau, Carol Danvers & Nick Fury, Carol Danvers & Nick Fury & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Light and Avengers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1479848
Comments: 7
Kudos: 10





	1. "Vanitas Jordan. Youngest Keyblade Master in Decades."

**Author's Note:**

> I said I was jumping the gun. Well, I figured I was gonna have to do this eventually, so I figured, might was well do it now. Hopefully it fills in a few gaps about Vanitas's history I forgot to mention before. Remember, it's Birth By Sleep V, so he still has his Keyblade, is hiding his powers, and his voice is between high and deep. Oh, and he's wearing his Birth by Sleep clothes. Can't forget that
> 
> Also, if you guys saw Union X or the trailer for Dark Road, remember, Heartless were around for a long while before Xehanort discovered them in Ansem's basement. It honestly surprises me they never mentioned them in Birth By Sleep, but I guess they wanted a different threat in that game

Vanitas sighed out in contentment as he flew through the realm between with his gauntlets and boots. Another Heartless eliminated in a different world, and more people were safe. Master Eraqus would be proud of his efforts against the forces of darkness. And, he managed to keep his other powers under wraps, just like he promised.

During the ride back through the lanes, Vanitas figured it would be nice to drop back home on Earth to see his family again. It had certainly been a while, and he was starting to miss his mom and cousins. He only hoped that the rules of time between worlds was still wonky enough to mean that it had only been a few weeks since his last visit, and not the months it had been for him.

Plotting the course for Earth in his head, Vanitas engaged the thrusters in his boots and gauntlets a bit more, speeding him through the space in front of him.

He arrived outside of a planet that looked like Earth a bit sooner than he expected, which felt a little strange. He knew the distance between his Earth and the Land of Departure in his head, and this wasn't part of the route on his mental map.

Giving in slightly, Vanitas gripped his head and got the usual brain freeze pain in his temple when he used his powers to sense what the world in front of him was like. It was definitely Earth, but a different one than he was used to. For one thing, the President was Bill Clinton and there were still Blockbusters around.

Vanitas winced. This Earth was still in the 90's. 1995, to be exact. They were still eight years away from Freddy vs. Jason, and the AVP films. The Resident Evil games didn't even exist yet at this point. But at least that also meant the movies didn't exist yet. That was one way this Earth was better than his own.

Vanitas was just about to start making his way back towards the Land of Departure, when he noticed something strange. What looked like a giant Skrull ship was exploding near the world, close to what looked like the West coast of America. He then noticed escape pods being launched, and remembered how Skrulls were refugees that were currently at war with the Kree. It wasn't his fight to get into, but he had to intervene when he saw a damaged escape pod start falling down towards the planet below him.

Wanting to make sure nothing messed with the World Order too much, Vanitas made his thrusters go faster and flew towards the burning pod as it entered the atmosphere of the Earth. As he got closer, he saw pieces of the pod actually break off and fly in many different directions, so he had to be pretty careful with his flying.

Vanitas got close enough to the pod to see through the flames and the burning windows to see a blonde woman in a green and black suit inside that he swore he could recognize. He was about to gesture to her that he could help when a particularly big piece of the ship broke off and hit him directly, sending him sprawling towards the ground with it.

Through his helmet, Vanitas was able to see the bottom of the pod broke apart, and the woman that was inside swung around on the bottom before she broke off. The two fell towards Los Angeles, with the woman crashing through the roof of a Blockbuster, and Vanitas landing hard on the parking lot road in front of it.

Luckily, Vanitas was used to getting hit with a lot of force in the torso at this point, and his armor protected his head, hands and feet. The armor disappeared in flashes of light, and he laid on the cracked ground, still in a bit of pain.

He was able to reach into his jacket pocket and pull out a healing Potion, which he gulped down to heal his wounds. However, the impact of hitting the ground still left him dazed, so he couldn't hear or see too well yet. He was able to see through blurry vision the woman leave the shop and walk over to a security guard's car and ask the freaked out man if he was "in charge of security for this district." Apparently, things worked on wherever she was from a lot differently than they did on Earth.

The woman looked towards Vanitas, and they shared a look of confusion aimed at each other before she started walking towards a Radio Shack. Vanitas then slipped out of consciousness.

Around morning, Vanitas had a vision of the Skrull leader, Talos, appear from the water at a nearby beach and take the forms of some of the people there. Talos instructed them to "find the girl. She knows more than she knows." Vanitas then gasped awake, sitting up in his spot on the road.

Lucky for him, he woke up just as police cars and slick looking black cars pulled up in the road in front of the ruined Blockbuster. Vanitas got up and moved out of their way as the cars stopped in front of the building, and men in suits got out. Naturally, he got weird glances due to his hair, but he brushed them off as he watched one African American man walk over to the blonde woman in the green and black suit.

And it was once Vanitas got a clearer sight of the suit that he recognized it. His eyes widened as he followed the man over to the phone booth the woman was in.

 _Oh, 90's_ , Vanitas thought at the sight of the phone booth.

The man knocked on the glass wall of the booth, getting the woman's attention. Vanitas was able to hear their conversation with his good ears as he got closer and closer.

"Excuse me, miss," the man announced once she turned to face him. "You know anything about a lady blowing a hole through the roof of that Blockbuster over there?"

He gestured to the building and the woman raised her eyebrows at it.

"Witness says she was dressed for laser tag," the man continued, looking down at her outfit.

"Oh," the woman said, looking to the side in thought before looking past him. "Yeah, I think she went that way."

"Uh, i'd like to ask you a few questions," the man stopped her from leaving as he reached into his inner jacket pocket. Another man in a suit went up to stand next to the officer behind the African American man, and Vanitas stopped behind them both, wanting to see how this would play out.

The African American man held up a badge in a leather wallet, showing it to her as he continued, "Maybe give you a 411 on the late-night drop box. Could I see some identification, please?"

"Vers," the woman answered. "Kree Starforce. We don't carry our identification on little cards."

"Vers," the man asked, stopping her from leaving once again. His tone of voice made it sound like he was willing to play along with what he thought was a joke for a little bit. "Starforce? How long you plan to be in town?"

"Oh, I'll be out of your hair as soon as I track down the Skrulls that are infiltrating your planet," Vers simply told him.

"Skrulls?" the man asked while laughing.

 _I know, dude,_ Vanitas thought, making sure he didn't project it into the man's head. _Sounds more made up than Xandarian._

"Shapeshifters?" Vers asked, trying to see if he understood. "They can transform into any life form down to the DNA."

The man laughed and looked at his suited associate, who smiled at him before looking back at Vers.

"Oh, boy," Vers commented. "You guys don't have any clue, do you?"

She started to walk away again, but the man stopped her once again as he laughed, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on."

"How do we know you're not one of those shapeshifters?" he asked Vers.

"Congratulations, Agent Fury," Vers told him with a smile. "You have finally asked a relevant question."

"No!" Fury told her. "Congratulations, to you, Starforce lady. You're under arrest."

He gestured to the police officer, but Vanitas put up a hand to stop him.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you guys to do that," Vanitas announced.

"And who are you to decide any authority over us?" Fury asked, confused.

"Someone who understands exactly what Starforce lady is talking about," Vanitas announced.

"No, you're not," Vers denied.

"You're a Kree from the planet, Hala," Vanitas announced, and her eyes narrowed towards him immediately. "You've been at war with the Skrulls for more than a few years at this point, and have suffered great losses. If what I've heard is accurate, I'm guessing your commander is Yon-Rogg?"

"How do you know that?" Vers asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You weren't the only one to crash land on this world last night," Vanitas told her. "I was just passing through when I saw the exploding Skrull ship."

"Hala?" Fury asked, confused. "Yon-Rogg? Is this some kind of practical joke?"

"Sometimes, I wish, dude," Vanitas admitted. "Then I wouldn't have to be away from home for such long periods of time. On the plus side, it gets me out of having to go to high school."

"You're not of this world, are you?" Vers asked, further confusing the gentlemen around them.

"No, I am not," Vanitas confirmed. He held out his hand. "Vanitas Jordan, youngest Keyblade Master in decades."

Usually, that introduction to other world travelers got impressed or awe-struck looks. Instead, Vers's eyes widened, and her expression became one of anger. Energy gathered in her hands that she shot right into Vanitas, knocking him back onto the road as the men watched in surprise.

"Uh, ow!" Vanitas exclaimed as he got back onto his feet. "I've never been to Hala, but if that's how they say 'Hello' there, I might re-think a trip."

"You're a wielder of the Keyblade," Vers announced as she walked away from the trio of shocked men and towards Vanitas. "Legend says the Keybearer brought wright and ruin."

"That's one legend," Vanitas remarked, mentally groaning at all the different lore about people with Keyblades. "The other says they saved the world. We just don't know which one..."

She cut him off by blasting him again, once again knocking him back across the parking lot. Once again, Vanitas got up onto his feet and looked at the angry woman in front of him.

"You know, lady," Vanitas announced, anger in his voice. "You're really starting to piss me off."

Vanitas then made fire appear in his right hand just as Vers shot another blast at him. He caught the energy in his fire encased hand and held it for a few seconds before throwing it to the side. The energy hit a nearby car, which caused the thankfully empty vehicle to explode.

"You wanna go there?" Vanitas asked. "Fine..." He summoned his Void Gear Keyblade. "We'll go there, bitch."

He stood in his battle stance as Vers stopped and clenched her fists, energy gathering around them.

Vanitas ran towards Vers as she fired more energy at him. He slashed downwards at the energy, making it disappear, before he slashed upwards, and energy shot out towards Vers. Vers then cartwheeled to the side to block the energy, before she blasted her own energy out of her hands at Vanitas. To block, Vanitas crouched down similarly like he was doing a limbo. He then stood up straight once again and fired out lightning from his Keyblade, which knocked the woman back into another car.

Vers quickly got up like nothing happened as the people inside the car got out and ran away quickly. She ran towards Vanitas and tried punching the ravenette in the face, so he ducked. Vanitas then kicked her in the stomach before slashing at her with his Keyblade, which pushed her back a bit, but not much. Vers then gathered energy out of her hands and started swinging her fists to punch at him, which he dodged by cartwheeling and backflipping.

Eventually, Vers managed to get a strike on Vanitas by knocking him strongly to the side, and he crashed into the car, crashing into it then onto the ground. Vanitas looked up and got back on his feet again. He dismissed his Keyblade, and leaned down for the car. Vanitas decided to say screw it and lifted the car up with his enhanced strength. He threw it right at Vers. She pointed her hands at the car, and energy shot out and blasted the vehicle, blowing it up in the air. The burning chassis landed right on the ground, still burning pretty high in the air.

Vanitas watched as Vers looked towards Fury and the other people next to the phone booth, but then quickly moved them to the side as a purple blast from on top of another building shot past them. Vanitas followed the line of the blast up onto that building to see one of the Kree disguised as a human he recognized from his vision. Vers's blast blew up some of the ceramic roof, and she ran right towards it.

"Hey!" Vanitas yelled.

He ran past the men in suits after Vers as she went after the Skrull.

"Rook!" he heard Fury yell. "Rook, let's roll!"

The two ran down the road for quite a while until Vers stopped in sight of one of the tram stations up in the air. She saw a staircase leading up to it, along with the surfer disguised Skrull running up them towards the bus.

"Hey!" Vanitas exclaimed.

Vers turned towards Vanitas and shot another blast at him, which pushed him back a bit, before he froze. Vers furrowed her eyebrows in confusion for a second before Vanitas appeared right behind her and slashed his Keyblade downwards, exclaiming, "Nope!"

Vers got hit with the Keyblade, but quickly turned towards Vanitas and side kicked him, against the fence they were next to. She then went through an attached gate and ran down the road, with Vanitas quickly following her. Vers then parkoured her way up along the walls, and Vanitas re-summoned his boots to follow her up into the air.

Vanitas dismissed the boots as he landed on the ground and followed Vers across the station. They jumped over the ticket collecting booths and went towards the train. Vanitas followed her up the stairs as they reached where the train was, and Vers bumped into an older woman with glasses. Vanitas was about to summon his Keyblade once again, but he followed her gaze to the train where they could see the surfer Skrull through the windows as the train went down the track.

Vers immediately bolted down the side of the walkway as the train started moving.

"Hey!" Vanitas exclaimed.

He ran after her as the end of the train ended up facing them. Vers leaped forwards and caught onto the back of the train, hanging on as it went down the track. Vanitas re-summoned his boots and flew up into the air. He went above the train and dismissed the boots. He landed in a roll on top of the train, and turned towards the back where Vers still was hanging on.

Vanitas gripped his head as he got a slight vision about the agent Fury they had encountered before. The man was pursuing them in a car, driving pretty crazily through traffic. Vanitas decided then and there that he was gonna like the man.

On the back of the train, Vers had punched out the window, and climbed in. She then went through the train car, surprised at her sudden appearance. Vanitas then swung in through the window after her and followed her across the car, also getting surprised looks from people.

"How ya doin'?" Vanitas asked, waving at the people looking at him and Vers in surprise. Vanitas quickly went up behind Vers. "Look..."

Their attentions were drawn to an older man reading through a packet of papers labelled "Mall rats." The man was muttering to himself, "'Trust me, true believer.' 'Trust me.'"

Vers moved aside the paper slightly, and the older man smiled at her and Vanitas. The two of them smiled back.

 _How ya doin', Stan Lee?_ Vanitas thought before they moved on.

The two of them went through the train car and moved on to the next one, where they still got curious looks from the bystanders.

"Well, I don't blame them with the hair and the clothes," Vanitas muttered. He looked at Vers. "Listen, like I was _trying_ to say back there..."

She stopped in place and looked down at a seat they passed. The older woman that she had bumped into was sitting in it. Vanitas understood immediately, but looked up at Vers with an eyebrow raised. The woman smiled up at the angry looking Vers.

 _Oh, no,_ Vanitas thought. _Tell me she's not gonna..._

Vers cut off his thoughts by punching the woman in the face, causing everyone in the train car to exclaim in surprise. The woman Skrull then looked in anger at Vers, then jumped up in a spinning attack to kick Vers into a seat in front of her, causing more surprise from the residents of the car. Vanitas backed up and wished he had brought his phone as the Skrull and Vers ended up in combat that included pushing the woman's face against a metal pole and throwing her against the train roof.

Once the Skrull was on a floor, a man in a suit grabbed Vers by her shoulders and restrained her, thinking he was stopping a crazy woman from assaulting an old woman.

 _Hey, dumb-ass!_ Vanitas thought in the man's head, causing him to grow confused so Vers was able to knock him off.

"How often do you find crazily aerobic old ladies?" Vanitas asked while Vers chased after the Skrull.

The Skrull then spun on another pole and kicked Vers once again. The Skrull then stood on her feet and faced Vers, growling a bit. Vanitas watched as Vers grabbed the charging Skrull and threw her on the ground. Vers punched the Skrull in the face before people on the bus started grabbing her to try to stop her.

"I don't blame you guys," Vanitas commented as they restrained Vers, and the Skrull lady started moving down the line. "Hey!"

Vanitas started moving past the rows after the Skrull, and Vers followed him after picking up a pod she noticed the Skrull had dropped. They went into the second car and moved to the back door, both a little surprised they couldn't find the Skrull.

"Well," Vanitas said. "Now that that's out of the way..."

His attention was drawn to the door in front of them as the Skrull stood up, transforming into a simple looking man in glasses and a red sweater. This no doubt confused the man behind them who actually looked like that. The Skrull then jumped up the impasse between cars and opened the hatch.

"Ladies, first," Vanitas offered.

"Shut up," Vers told him, opening the door.

She climbed up onto the roof, and was immediately kicked across the top of the train by the Skrull. Vanitas followed her up onto the roof, seeing the Skrull running across the other car in front of them.

"Hey!" Vanitas called out, summoning his Keyblade. "Stop!"

He shot up magic, and Stopga appeared in the air above the train car, but missed the running Skrull.

Vers quickly recovered, and she followed Vanitas as he ran after the Skrull. Briefly, Vanitas saw that the car with that Fury guy in it was now under the train on the road below, following closely while still driving crazily. As they followed the Skrull, he made the mistake of grabbing one of the big metal pieces that attached to the cable above them, and he got thrown onto his back.

Vanitas reached the Skrull and dismissed his Keyblade, holding up his hands in an attempting to be peaceful manner.

"Listen, man," Vanitas said. "I just wanna tal..."

The Skrull kicked him right in the groin. Vanitas exclaimed in pain as he grabbed his groin and fell back onto his side.

"The one time I don't wear my cup," he muttered in pain.

Vers and the Skrull then swung their fists at each other, before the Skrull pushed Vers onto the ground they were standing on, before knocking her over the side. Ves grabbed on to part of the wall, and a piece broke off and fell onto Fury's car below them.

Vanitas slowly got over the pain while the Skrull went down towards the front of the ship as they started to pass under a bridge into a tunnel. Vers then launched herself up onto the roof with them and blasted energy towards the Skrull. The Skrull ducked as they started to go under the tunnel entrance, and the blast instead took out part of the ceramic forming the wall of the bridge. Vers then blasted a hole into the ground in front of her, and slid into the train car. As the wall got closer, Vanitas got up and leaped up as high as he could onto the bridge while the train passed underneath him.

Vanitas breathed in and out as he got another vision inside Fury's car. The voice of the guy Fury was with, Agent Coulson, suddenly called on his communicator, announcing he was still at the Blockbuster, not knowing where everybody went. That didn't make much sense since Coulson was sitting next to him. The two then started to fight, which ended up causing the car to drive even more crazily than before, before it crashed into a bus. The Skrull died and revealed its true form to Fury, who covered it with his jacket before going to work to hide the truth with the authorities, saying it was "official SHIELD business."

Vanitas gasped as the vision ended. What the hell was that all about?

The rational part of his mind was telling him to leave right now, and forget all this was happening. He had no problems with the Skrulls or the Kree, despite the war going on between them, and he was supposed to report in soon to his Master.

On the other hand, the curious part of his brain wanted to find out more about what was going on. That woman, Vers, was human, according to a quick scan of her he had done, but for some reason she had been infused with Kree blood, and trained on Hala as a warrior for the Starforce. If he was gonna figure out why they would do that, than he would need to stay with her to try to find out.

He sighed out slightly as he already knew which side of his brain he was gonna listen to.

"Well," Vanitas muttered. "Let's hope this is interesting..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It just isn't Vanitas if the first thing he does after crash landing on a new world isn't fight someone he meets there, is it? This will go into a bit more detail about how Vanitas was before the Kingdom Hearts games, along with explaining a few things I references. Like in the Winter Soldier when Fury said Vanitas wasn't the cleanest back in the 90's... yeah, this is along the lines of what he meant
> 
> Also, I will admit, when I was doing the Birth By Sleep story, I didn't really originally plan on Vanitas having so many abilities. When I first started, he didn't have telekinesis, telepathy, super strength, and I wasn't even sure he would be in this movie because I didn't know then if I wanted to do Marvel Crossovers yet. I just made up all that on the spot, if it wasn't obvious enough.
> 
> I will be mentioning more of Vanitas's backstory, along with why he never used the powers so much in the Birth By Sleep story. It'll get explained a little later.


	2. Pancho's Bar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas meets up with Fury and Vers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Around this point, Vanitas still gets slight head pain when trying to manually take control of his visions, or see visions period. But like I mentioned early last chapter, it's more similar to that of getting a brain freeze, rather than getting flaming machetes through both eyes, like I mentioned in Winter Soldier.

Vanitas knew the first course of action would be to find Vers and figure out what her next course of action against the Skrulls was gonna be. Bracing himself, he gripped his head and used his telepathy to navigate around the area to try to find her. He eventually found the woman hiding in an alley putting the pod the Skrull on the train had dropped to see what was in her memories. There was stuff about a Dr. Wendy Lawson as part of something called Pegasus, and a bar called Pancho's, before her wrist device burned out.

The vision then shifted to show Vers in an internet cafe ( _Oh, 90's_ , Vanitas thought again with a smile.) where she very slowly tried searching for both Pegasus and the Pancho's Bar, looking pretty confused. She didn't have much luck for the Pegasus, and the device disconnected when she tried searching for the bar. So, she unfolded a large map and tried finding the right way there on that.

Then it showed some biker dude try hitting on her, but call her a freak when she ignored him. Vanitas could already tell where things were going as the man left his bike unattended. He laughed as Vers stole both normal clothes and the guy's bike, driving down the wrong side of the road for a few seconds at first.

Vanitas sighed out as he let go of his head, knowing she was heading to the bar, and already mapping out his own route from the map she was holding. Knowing that it would be a little too much for him to use his gauntlets and boots to fly across the world after her, especially after that stunt earlier with the train, he knew he was gonna need some wheels.

So, he followed Vers's example and went over to a nearby motorcycle and cast a spell on it, turning it on without even needing the key.

"Hey!" the bike's owner exclaimed as he saw Vanitas on the motor vehicle.

"I'm really sorry, but I'm gonna need to commandeer your vehicle," Vanitas told the biker.

"Right after I commandeer your ass for my foot!" the man exclaimed angrily.

"You would get along with Kurtwood Smith," Vanitas commented, remembering how this Earth was three years away from That 70's show. At the biker's confused expression, Vanitas raised his hand to the man's head and said cryptically, "You will give me your bike."

"No, I _won't_!" the biker exclaimed, angrily.

"Okay, I can't do that," Vanitas muttered to himself. "New plan."

He put his right hand up to the biker's neck, and applied pressure with his fingers in the point where the neck met the shoulders. Seconds later, the man's eyes rolled up to his head and he collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

"What do you know?" Vanitas asked. "That pressure point really does work."

The man wasn't dead, he would just be unconscious for the next three hours. It really depended on how much pressure was applied, and he made sure it was enough.

Vanitas then ignited the bike and drove it down the road, remembering the route he figured out when he saw Vers with the map.

Along the way, Vanitas had a slight vision of Fury and who he guessed was Fury's boss staring at an autopsy table with the dead Skrull from his car. Fury said that the best course of action would be for him to find Vers and see if she knew how to get rid of the Skrulls, and his boss told him not to trust anyone else, and to be careful of "the kid with the giant key." Then the two checked out the dead Skrull's dick for curiosity, and looked a little impressed before Fury walked away. That made Vanitas laugh a bit.

After a little while on the road, Vanitas eventually found the right bar and parked the bike in front. He entered to find Vers on a far wall gesturing to a picture, the owner of the bar looking at her, and Fury behind the bar, now wearing a suit shirt and tie and a brown jacket, and some bandages over the wound on his left eyebrow.

"That's classified," Fury announced as he walked along behind the bar. "Not unlike the file I started on you." He looked towards the entrance at the ravenette who just entered. "And the kid over there."

The owner looked a little uncertain over the surprise entrance of the agent, and the kid who just entered, but reluctantly left when Fury shot him a look.

"But I see you've changed it up a bit since then," Fury remarked. "Grunge is a good look for you." He looked at Vanitas. "You remind me of a classic Emo kid. Like Green Day fans."

"Thanks," Vanitas commented. "That's what I was going for."

"Did you have a rough day, Agent Fury?" Vers asked the man.

"It was cool, you know?" Fury asked, walking down the bar a bit. "Had a space invasion, big car chase. Got to watch an alien autopsy. Typical nine-to-five."

"Welcome to my life," Vanitas told the man as he came out from behind the bar.

"Does your life usually involve getting your ass kicked by super powered girls?" Vers asked.

"You're the one who ran from the fight," Vanitas reminded her. "Don't act like you're all that."

Vers kept her mouth shut before looking from Vanitas to Fury.

"So you saw one?" she asked him.

"I was never one to believe in aliens," Fury admitted as he leaned his arms down on the bar on each side on him in the entrance. "But I can't unsee that."

"Welcome to the club," Vanitas told him. "I've been to dozens of worlds, and yet, there are still a lot of things that can somehow surprise me."

"This is gonna get a little awkward, but I gotta ask," Vers told Fury.

"You think the kid and I are two of those green things," Fury announced.

"After everything we've been through?" Vanitas asked with fake offense.

"Can't be too careful," Vers told them.

"You are looking at 100% red blooded Earth man," Fury announced, walking over to the pool table she was standing next to. He looked at Vanitas. "I don't know what he is."

"I'm also a human from Earth," Vanitas announced. "Just from a different Earth."

Fury furrowed his eyebrows at that.

"Not only are there different worlds, but there are different forms of Earths with them," Vanitas informed him. "Now I get why my world was called Earth 475. There's gotta be like, hundreds out there. When I came through this atmosphere, I think I saw that it was called Earth 616. Although, some people call it C-53. I think I'll just stick with Earth 616 to dull any confusion."

Fury nodded his head in slight understanding, even though he was still surprised at the news of hundreds of Earths.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna need proof of you being human," Vers told Fury.

"We talking cheek swab, or urine sample?" Fury asked.

"Neither, thank god," Vanitas told him. "Skrulls are shapeshifters down to the DNA."

"It would match that of a human," Vers elaborated.

"Want my AOL password?" Fury asked.

_AOL_ , Vanitas thought. _I know I'm saying this a lot, but... Oh, 90's._

"Skrulls can only sim recent memories of their host bodies," Vers told Fury.

Fury scoffed. "Oh, oh." He pointed at Vers with a slight smile. "You wanna get personal."

The three of them sat at a nearby table with Vers facing the jukebox in the back, starting their interrogation of Fury.

"Where were you born?" Vers asked.

"Huntsville, Alabama," Fury answered. "But technically, I don't remember that part."

"Who ever remembers their birth?" Vanitas asked. He then got a slight smile before singing, " _Sweet home Alabama..._ "

"Don't," Fury remarked, pointing at him. "I had enough of that shit when I was a rookie."

Vanitas laughed and Vers cracked a slight smile before growing serious again.

"Name of your first pet?" Vers asked Fury.

"Mr. Snoofers," Fury answered.

"Mr Snoofers?" Vers asked, curious.

"That's what I said," Fury told her.

"People here don't name pets like they do on Hala," Vanitas informed her.

"Do I pass?" Fury asked.

"Not yet," Vers said. "First job?"

"Soldier," Fury told her. "Straight out of high school. Left the ranks a full bird colonel."

"Then?" Vers asked.

"Spy," Fury answered.

"Where?" Vers asked.

"This is starting to feel like 20 questions," Vanitas commented.

"It was the Cold War," Fury answered Vers, ignoring Vanitas's comment. "We were everywhere. Uh, Belfast. Bucharest. Belgrade. Budapest. I like the B's. I can make them rhyme."

"Now?" Vers asked.

"Been riding a desk for the past six years, trying to figure out where our future enemies are coming from," Fury answered.

"I think you just cracked the puzzle, Nick," Vanitas commented.

"Never occurred to me, they'd be coming from above," Fury admitted, pointing up at the ceiling.

"...Name a detail so bizarre a Skrull could never fabricate it," Vers told Fury.

Fury looked to the side slightly before scoffing.

"If toast is cut diagonally, I can't eat it," he admitted. Vers smiled slightly, while Vanitas's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You didn't need that, did you?"

"No," Vers confirmed. "No, I didn't. But I enjoyed it." She looked towards Vanitas. "Now you..."

"Every night for the last two months, I've been having wet dreams about my friend, Aqua," Vanitas answered, figuring she was about to ask him the same question.

Vers raised her eyebrows and a full smile burst out on her face.

"I was just about to say that Skrulls can't summon Keyblades if the person they're imitating has a Keyblade," she told him. "You didn't need to tell me that, you just needed to summon your Keyblade."

Vanitas looked at her with a blank expression, but on the inside he was freaking out because he just gave that information away like that.

"...Oh..." he said, summoning his Keyblade, then dismissing it for confirmation.

"I enjoyed _that_ , too," Vers told him.

"Never introduce her to this Aqua," Fury told the ravenette while trying and failing to hide a laugh.

"Way ahead of you, dude," Vanitas told him.

Eventually, Fury stopped laughing and looked back at Vers.

"Okay," he told her. "Your turn. Prove you're not a Skrull."

Vers thought for a second, then pointed her fist past Fury at the jukebox. The two men watched as energy shot out of Vers's fist and into the jukebox, blowing it up. The two men looked at her with eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she rested her chin on her fist.

"And how is that supposed to prove to me that you're not a Skrull?" Fury asked.

"Yeah, all you did was make yourself in debt of a jukebox to this bar," Vanitas remarked.

"That's a photon blast," Vers told them.

"And?" Fury asked.

"A Skrull can't do that," Vers told them.

"Well, she's right about that," Vanitas admitted. He looked at the blonde. "Doesn't change the fact you owe this bar a new jukebox."

"So, a full bird colonel turned spy turned SHIELD agent must have pretty high security clearance." Vers assessed. "Where's Pegasus?"

Fury sighed out.

"How do I know you're not gonna pick another fight with the kid?" he asked.

"He had more than a few opportunities to keep up the fight earlier," Vers remarked. "But instead, he helped me try to get the Skrull."

"I'm a Master," Vanitas informed her with his arms crossed. "We're supposed to keep balance, and manage the World Order. We're not really supposed to be letting so many people know about the secrets of other worlds and shit."

"You're doing a bang up job already," Fury commented.

"Shut up," Vanitas told him. "I do well on other worlds, when there aren't other alien forces trying to disrupt the Order."

"And it's that that lets me know you're not an enemy," Vers announced. "If you really were trying to bring wrought and ruin, then I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have tried helping me and stop the Skrull. And while you do appear to be a good fighter, I don't necessarily feel like fighting a guy with a giant key right now."

"Good to know," Vanitas commented. He looked at Fury. "So what's this 'Pegasus' thing?"

Fury sighed out at the fact there were now _two_ off worlders that he had to show this classified information to. When did so many of the rules he had to follow just suddenly get thrown out the window?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It does feel a little weird to be back with Vanitas having a Keyblade instead of his other melee weapons and guns. And giving him feelings and his powers back. I haven't written about that V in nearly a year, yet we're suddenly like this again. Feels weird


	3. Project Pegasus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio heads to SHIELD to learn about Project Pegasus. However, unsurprisingly, trouble brews closeby

The new trio got into Fury's car and drove across the desert, towards where the SHIELD base was. Fury promised they'd get to see exactly what Project Pegasus was once they got there and went through the right files.

Now, Vanitas was wishing he hadn't left his smartphone back home on Earth. With how long the ride was taking, he was wishing he could watch two or three Nightmare on Elm street movies to pass the time. Then again, smartphones weren't really available to everyone on Earth until about, sometime in 2007, and he didn't really want to give away too much of the future of this planet to others too much.

"Okay," Fury announced, wanting to get some more information. "The Skrulls sim alien races to infiltrate and take over planets. And you're a Kree? A race of noble warriors?"

"Heroes," Vers corrected him. "Noble warrior heroes."

"Really?" Vanitas asked, eyebrow furrowed.

The stories he had heard about Kree didn't exactly paint them as the nicest. And the others he heard about the Skrulls still painted them as just refugees looking for a way out. But, then again, that's all they were at this point to him: just stories. He didn't know if they were true or not. Based on what he had seen so far today, he was starting to think that the person he heard that from was just a drunk fucktard. Wouldn't be the first one he met.

"So, um, what do Skrulls want with Dr. Lawson?" Fury asked.

"They believe that she developed a light-speed engine at Pegasus," Vers informed him.

"Light-speed engine?" Fury asked.

"I'm guessing you guys don't have those on this world?" Vanitas asked, knowing pretty well how things were back in the 90's on his world.

"Not to my knowledge," Fury admitted. "Gotta admit, that's not the craziest thing I've heard today."

"Well, it's still early," Vers remarked.

"Well, over the course of several hours, you did learn that humans aren't alone and people fly through worlds with giant keys," Vanitas remarked. "Can't really imagine how much weirder it can get for you from here."

"Speaking of that key," Fury said. "How do you have that thing?"

"Magic," Vanitas simply said.

"That. That's how be how much weirder it can get," Fury informed him before looking at Vers. "And you, what do you want? The Skrulls want the engine and the kid wants to protect the 'Order.' What about you?"

"To stop the Skrulls before they become unstoppable," Vers answered.

Vanitas could sense a bit of turmoil in her mind, as if there was more to it than she was willing to admit.

"And?" Fury asked, as if he could also sense it. Vers looked at him in confusion, not understanding. "Look, war is a universal language. I know a rogue soldier when I see one. You got a personal stake in this."

Vers said nothing as they turned in the road and slowed down in front of a fence. Vanitas saw that one of those communicator things that are usually outside gates like this was next to Fury's window, which he had already rolled down.

"This is government property. Turn your vehicle around," the man through the communicator ordered Fury, who sighed out.

"Nicholas Joseph Fury," Fury called into the communicator, holding up his badge. "Agent of SHIELD."

"Place your thumb on the pad," the guard announced.

Fury did exactly that and let the scan pad run across the screen.

"Nicholas Joseph Fury?" Vers asked. "You have three names?"

"Everyone here does," Vanitas remarked. "Most of the time. Mine is Vanitas Francis Jordan."

"Francis?" Fury asked, before shaking it off. "Everybody just calls me Fury. Not Nicholas. Not Joseph. Not Nick. Just Fury."

"You got it, Nick," Vanitas smirked.

"What does your mom call you?" Vers asked.

"Fury," Fury answered.

"What do you call her?" Vers asked.

"Fury," Fury answered.

"What about your kids?" Vers asked.

"If I have them, they'd call me Fury," Fury answered.

"You're one of those guys, huh?" Vanitas asked.

"You're cleared for access," the guard on the communicator informed them.

"Thank you," Fury told him as the gate rolled open.

Fury drove the car further through the desert past the giant piles of dirt surrounding the road. Down the road they drove into a tunnel, passing ready soldiers with assault rifles. They drove through the tunnels until they came out into a large room where two other cars were parked. Fury parked the car next to a big truck and they all started getting out.

"Ah, hold up," Fury announced as they stood around the car. "You look like somebody's disaffected niece and a weird, emo kid."

"Not the first time I've been told I look like that," Vanitas admitted as Fury opened the back door to his car and reached for something inside. "Maybe it's all the black."

"Maybe," Fury commented, straightening up to face them. "Put these on."

He threw two caps towards the off-worlders, who caught them. Examining the caps, they saw that they were the same: plain grey with a circular image of a falcon in the center.

"What is it?" Vers asked.

"It's the SHIELD logo," Fury informed her.

"I prefer fedoras," Vanitas admitted as he put on the hat. "But what the hell?"

"Does, uh, announcing your identity on clothing help with the covert part of your job?" Vers asked with a sly smile as she put on the hat.

"Said the space soldier who was wearing a runner suit," Fury countered. "He might have weird hair, but even he was doing a good job with hiding the giant key and those boots."

"Ha," Vanitas said, sending a cocky smirk to Vers, who was looking a little offended at Fury's words.

"Lose the flannel," Fury told Vers.

She complied and took the flannel that was tied around her waist and put it in the passenger seat, shutting the door once again. She and Vanitas then walked with Fury over to a railing where they got to see the gigantic hanger far in front of them, with lots of people working on constructing various giant flying machines similar to jets, but not exactly jets.

"Whoa..." Vanitas said in amazement. _This world certainly is ahead of its time._ My _earth won't have these for another 20 years._

"You aren't used to ships like this?" Fury asked with confusion. "Then how'd you get on this world?"

"The boots," Vanitas told him. "Matching gloves. And a surprisingly airtight matching helmet."

"Can I help you?" a security chief asked, walking over to the trio with two soldiers.

"We're agents of SHIELD," Fury explained, taking out his badge and holding it up to the man. He gestured to Vanitas. "He just has... a _very_ youthful face."

"I noticed," the chief commented, studying Fury's badge.

"We're looking for a woman named Lawson," Vers told them.

"A Dr. Wendy Lawson," Fury elaborated.

The man was silent as he studied the trio.

"Do you know her?" Vers asked.

After a few seconds, the man handed Fury's badge back to him and announced, "Follow me."

"Hmm," Vers hummed as she led the way after the man, Fury and Vanitas following with slight trepidation.

They were seated in a small room that was basically like someone's office without a window. The three of them sat in chairs and waited for a while, with Vanitas once again wishing he remembered to bring his smartphone from his Earth.

"You familiar with the phrase 'welcome wagon'?" Fury eventually asked.

"No," Vers admitted.

"This sure doesn't feel like one," Vanitas commented.

"Just my thoughts," Fury admitted.

Since they were sitting next to the door, he leaned up and pressed his thumb against a scan pad. Once it was done, the screen glowed red. When that failed, he sighed out and pulled out a pager, pressing a few buttons.

"Oh, 90's," Vanitas muttered aloud.

"What?" Fury asked.

"Did I say that one out loud?" Vanitas asked in slight surprise.

"Is that a communicator?" Vers asked, focusing more on the pager in Fury's hands.

"Yeah," Fury told her. "State-of-the-art two-way pager."

He stood up to stretch his legs as he finished that statement.

"Who are you paging?" Vers asked.

"My mom," Fury told her as he got closer to the computer. "Don't worry. I didn't mention you guys."

"Aw, are you ashamed of your friends?" Vanitas asked in a joking manner, sensing that the man was actually calling for backup.

They then stood up and paced around while Fury opened up his badge. Vers noticed a slight directory on a sticker to see that the records room was on floor five, while Vanitas was considering using his enhanced strength to just break the doorknob off. Instead, he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he watched Fury take out a piece of tape and place it on his badge. The man took off the tape and held it up to the light, seeing that the man who touched it earlier left a finger print.

Fury whooped in excitement before putting his badge away and walking over to the door. He placed the tape over the thumb pad, which scanned the finger print. The pad the glowed green, and with excitement still evident on his face, Fury opened the door and looked at the off-worlders.

"After you," he told them.

"Nice," Vanitas commented, impressed.

"Impressive," Vers said simply but with a slight smile.

"Oh, you should see what I can do with a paperclip," Fury said as he followed them out the door, closing it behind them.

They quickly found the elevator and started riding it down to the floor where the records were.

"Hey, how come you commented about the 90's when you saw my pager?" Fury asked Vanitas to pass the time. "We're in the 90's, so I don't get why you'd comment on it."

"Well..." Vanitas said, knowing he hit a dead end. "On my Earth, it's a bit more... advanced in time than this Earth."

"How advanced?" Fury asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"It's the year 2027," Vanitas admitted, to Fury's surprise. "I was born in 2012, and learned all about horror movies, especially the classics from my crazy uncles that helped raise me. Things are very similar on this world as they were on my world during this time, though. Pagers, Blockbusters, internet cafes, Clinton as the president. *chuckles slightly* I just hope you guys don't have to deal with 9/11, the corona virus, and Donald Trump as the president."

"Oh, my god, your poor world," Fury said. "Trump as president sounds like a damn disaster."

"He was," Vanitas admitted. "With all the bad shit he did in the last year of his term alone, nobody hesitated to arrest him once he was done. And no one even complained when the lead singer of Green Day rammed a guitar into his head."

"Ha!" Fury laughed. "And now I wanna start listening to Green Day again."

The two quickly had to stop laughing as the elevator came to a stop. They put on their serious faces as they followed Vers down the hallway. They walked down the hallway until an orange furred cat came out, and Fury's demeanor changed dramatically.

"Hey, there," he told the cat in a voice as if he was talking to a caring voice. "How are you?"

Vers stopped in front of the cat, and it looked up at her. The two regarded each other for a second before she moved on.

"Oh, my goodness," Fury continued telling the cat, leaning down to pet it. "Look at you. Just look at you. Aren't you the cutest little thing? Aren't you cute? And what's your name, huh? What's your name?"

Vanitas and Vers watched with their eyebrows furrowed in surprise, since they weren't expecting this kind of affection from this man towards anybody. They watched as Fury checked the name tag around the cat's collar, reading "Goose."

"'Goose'," Fury read before he started petting Goose on his head. "Cool name for a cool cat."

"Fury?" Vers asked.

"Nick?" Vanitas asked.

"Hmm?" Fury asked, looking up at the blonde in front of him, who was facing a door. He whispered to Goose, "I'll be back."

"That felt weird to see," Vanitas admitted as they walked over to Vers.

They looked to see that Vers was standing next to the records room doors, and there was a familiar thumb pad next to it.

"Oh!" Fury remarked, taking out the folded up tape with the fingerprint. "Let me get my fingerprint out. Let me just me unravel this puppy."

Vers cut him off by sending a photon blast right into the door, burning off the doorknob completely.

"...You sat there and watched me play with tape?" Fury asked in surprise and in an accusing manner. "When all you had to do was..."

"I didn't want to steal your thunder," Vers admitted.

"And you went to action before I could rip off the doorknob," Vanitas added.

The men said nothing as they followed Vers through the doors. Light blared on one at a time, revealing the room to be very, very long in front of them. They went along the rows and rows of files until they found the right one. They went down the extra hall with the right rows of files until they found the right once.

"Lawson," Vers announced, pulling out two boxes and handing one to Fury.

The two went through the boxes trying to find the right files while Vanitas kept watch just in case. Oddly enough, that cat, Goose, was staring at them at the end of the hallway, but he shrugged it off, not thinking much about him. Vers laughed as she pulled out what looked like plans and leaned against the wall.

"Lawson's plan for the light-speed engine," Vers announced. Fury and Vanitas looked over with interest, seeing that the project was announced, "Terminated." "I wonder why they terminated the project."

"Usually that happens when something went wrong," Vanitas informed her.

"Um, maybe because she's cuckoo," Fury announced, holding up a paper of weird looking designs.

However, Vanitas and Vers recognized them immediately.

"Kree glyphs?" Vers asked as she took the paper.

"Hmm?" Fury asked.

"Kree writing," Vanitas elaborated. "It's one of the twelve languages I studied in preparation for world travel. Others include Elvish, Xhosa, and even Groot. Don't ask."

"Lawson is not cuckoo," Vers announced. "She's Kree."

"Well, she's dead," Fury announced.

"What?" Vers asked, surprised.

"She crashed the Asis aircraft doing an unauthorized test flight," Fury explained. "Took a pilot down with her. That's why security here is so unfriendly. They're covering up a billion-dollar mistake."

"Jesus," Vanitas exclaimed, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh, and your light-speed engine is toast," Fury continued, showing Vers a satellite picture of what Vanitas guessed was exactly that.

Vers took the picture and studied the line of smoke leading down to a crash site on a beach.

"When did this crash happen?" Vers asked.

"Six years ago," Fury explained as Vers studied the close up picture of the crash sight after the crash. "1989."

"Who was the pilot?" Vers asked.

"Um, most of this thing's redacted..." Fury admitted. "But there is a testimonial here from a Maria Rambeau. Last person to see the alive."

"Man, this is getting real interesting," Vanitas commented as they studied the papers.

Fury then paused as his pager beeped. He looked down at it before looking back up at Vers.

"You okay?" Fury asked her.

"...Mm-hmm," Vers eventually answered, even though Vanitas could tell it was a lie.

"Back in a minute," Fury told them before putting down the folder he picked up and walked down the aisle they were in.

"You all right?" Vanitas asked.

She ignored him and picked up the folder. She went through the testimonial from Maria Rambeau, with a lot of the words blacked out with marker. She then found an old paper attached with a paperclip. Dr. Lawson was shaking hands with a male pilot with an African American woman next to her. Behind them was a plane with a woman climbing up the ladder to the cockpit, laughing with another man who was giving her a bag.

The two world travelers' eyes widened slightly as they recognized the woman going up the ladder. It was Vers.

Vers had flashbacks which Vanitas saw, involving Lawson telling her that it wasn't about fighting wars but ending them. It shifted to show Vers in a plane cockpit, which ended up brushing against the top of trees.

"You came from this world," Vanitas assessed, looking at the picture with her in equal surprise.

Vers then ran from the room and Vanitas followed her in confusion. She reached the nearest phone and modified it to reach the other Starforce members that were on their way.

"I know Lawson was Kree," Vers instructed as Vanitas kept watch once again for security. "She was here on C-53 and died in a plane crash. Do you know anything about this?"

Vanitas wasn't able to make out Von-Rogg's words too well. He could hear slight tidbits about a mission report, Lawson was an undercover Kree named Mar-Vell, and that she was developing something to help them win the war.

Vanitas then had a slight vision about more SHIELD agents showing up, including Fury's boss, Keller. The two entered the elevator to come down to their level, and Fury could tell something was wrong when Keller referred to him as "Nicholas."

"Does it say anything about me?" Vers asked, getting his attention again. She paused for a bit as Von-Rogg spoke. "I found evidence that I had a life here." She paused for another second. "Mar-Vell is who I see when I visit the Supreme Intelligence. I knew her. And I knew her as Lawson."

Vanitas stopped listening after he heard "Supreme Intelligence." He heard of it, it was the Kree artificial intelligence that connected to the minds of all the citizens of Hala. That made him a little apprehensive. Parts of him didn't like being a telepath himself, let alone meeting other telepaths. After a second, he decided to head back to the records room in case Fury came back soon.

Once he got back into the records room, he could briefly hear the man calling for both him and Vers. After a few seconds, Vanitas managed to find Fury walking down the middle line across the shelves.

"Fury!" Vanitas exclaimed as he ran up to his ally.

"V!" Fury greeted. "Listen, I called in backup, but my boss..."

"Is a Skrull?" Vanitas asked. Fury nodded and Vanitas sighed out. "Classic shapeshifter move."

The sound of doors opening appeared far in front of them, and the two ran down one of the aisles of shelves in hiding as more SHIELD agents entered the hallway, looking for them.

"Oh, why do all shapeshifters take the form of the highest vain of authority?" Vanitas muttered in irritation as they hid in behind one of the shelves.

"Luckily there's this," Fury informed him, holding up a film reel.

"Uh, 90's," Vanitas muttered in disgust.

Fury then threw the reel down the hall they were in, and it clattered more than a few aisles down. The agents ran towards it with their guns prepared. The two of them then ran in the opposite direction towards where the exit was, but then the lights came on in the aisle next to the door. Vanitas shook his head at Fury, and they started running down the aisle next to it. The lights stayed on, but they kept their ground. Fury led the way down the aisle, but stopped once they reached the end.

"Was it something I said?" the Skrull disguised as Keller asked.

Before Vanitas could summon his Keyblade, Fury grabbed the man's wrist and pushed it aside, keeping the gun pointed away as he elbowed the man with his other arm. They wrestled the gun up, and the magazine slid out. Fury then knocked the man aside and rolled away before raising the gun up and pulling the empty trigger.

"Dude, you can see the chamber is back," Vanitas told him, before his eyes widened in confusion. "Wait, I've never even been in the same room as a gun before. How do I know that?"

Fake Keller grabbed Vanitas's shoulder, and he quickly left behind an image and teleported behind the man, grabbing him by his shoulder instead. Vanitas jumped up and elbowed the Skrull hard on the shoulder, causing him to exclaim as he fell to the ground. It did look a little funny since he was shorter than both of these men.

Fury then tried throwing the empty handgun at the Skrull, who quickly side-stepped, along with Vanitas. Fury then tried going hand to hand with the man pretending to be his boss, but his own strikes were either blocked or redirected by the alien. Vanitas summoned his Keyblade, but couldn't find a way to intervene that wouldn't hurt Fury because the two were so close together. Fake Keller then threw Fury around like a rag doll, and ended up throwing the man against Vanitas, causing both of them to fall to the ground in pain.

The alien then leaned down to pick up the glasses he was wearing that fell off.

"Now, you know, I don't really need these to see, but they do kind of complete the look," Fake Keller said as they tried helping each other up while he put his glasses back on. "Don't you think?"

Vanitas grabbed his Keyblade once again, but before he could do anything, a photon blast knocked the man further back into the room. The two men looked up seeing Vers standing over them with her fist raised with energy around it.

"Thanks, Vers," Vanitas praised.

She then burned a giant hole in the ceiling above them, and Vanitas helped bring Fury up through it. They ran down the hallway towards the exit.

"You called them in?" Vers asked Fury, audibly angry.

"My bad," Fury admitted.

"I thought it would have been nice to have backup!" Vanitas admitted.

The trio reached the staircase and started running up. They reached a certain part before they came face to face with a man in a suit that Vanitas remembered from his vision as Phil Coulson. The man was pointing a gun at them, obviously having been told a lie from the Skrull. Vers kept the energy around her fist in preparation as Coulson and Fury shared a look. A mutual understanding passed between them, as evidence from him lowering his gun, and Fury gestured to the door behind them.

"V, maybe put the giant Key away so you're a little more conspicuous," Fury suggested.

"Good idea," Vanitas admitted, dismissing his Keyblade.

"Coulson, do you have eyes on them?" a female agent above them asked.

"They're not down here," Coulson lied as the trio went through the doors, Fury and Vanitas sparing him a grateful look.

They went through a few more hallways until they reached a set of double doors leading into the hanger. Fury shut them and Vers barred them by placing a metal rod between them and bending it. Fury kept an eye out through the windows with his own gun prepred while Vers held out her hand. Seeing that he wasn't paying attention to her, Vers slapped Fury on the shoulder to get his attention.

"What?" Fury asked.

"Your communicator," Vers answered. "You obviously can't be trusted with it."

"Are you serious?" Vanitas asked.

But then agents ran through the hallway outside and crashed into the doors. Fury reluctantly gave her his pager, and the trio ran through the hanger towards the large vehicles to try to find one they could fly. Behind them, the doors burst open and the agents followed them through with Fake Keller. The trio managed to hide behind a gigantic, large container, with Fury holding his gun ready as he kept watch. Vanitas and Vers found a jet they could use, and gestured to it, getting Fury's attention.

The ship was a large one with two big engines on the top. What made it the best option was that the ramp was down.

"Hell, yeah," Vanitas muttered.

They moved to the jet and after flipping a coin, Fury sat in the other front seat in the cockpit.

"Do you know how to fly this thing?" Fury asked as the ramp closed behind them.

"Uh, we'll see," Vers told them.

"That's a yes or no question," Fury remarked.

"You know how many yes or no questions I've gotten around, man?" Vanitas asked. "'Shouldn't you be in high school?' 'Aren't you a little young to be in charge?' 'Is that porn on your laptop?' I always manage to dodge out of it."

"You managed to dodge out of answering if there was porn on your computer?" Fury asked, eyebrows furrowed as Vers pressed a few buttons on the pads above them.

"I have smart uncles," Vanitas admitted as the engines turned on, igniting outside of the ship.

"To answer your question, yes," Vers announced, and Vanitas could see in her eyes that she was a bit annoyed at their banter.

Vers pushed a lever, and Fury and Vanitas laughed triumphantly as they rose up into the air.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Fury exclaimed.

They rose up into the air, and immediately had to duck as the agents surrounded them and fired at the windows. Vers then made the engines go even more, and Vanitas held on as the ship flew out of the hanger and tilted to the side as they flew through the air over the desert. After a little while, they flew up into the air, and Vanitas held on even stronger as the ship went further and further up.

Their attentions were then drawn to the sound of meowing behind them. They looked over their shoulders behind them, and Vanitas could not even try to contain his laughter.

"We got a stowaway," Fury commented.

Goose the cat was in the ship with them, and the intensity of the ship had left him with his back against a set of crates with his arms and legs spread out on either side of him. He meowed out his disappointment.

"Hang on, Goose," Vers instructed as she leveled out the ship.

The ship became level with the ground far below them, and Goose was able to drop from the crates onto the ground. He meowed as he walked up to them at the cockpit.

"Goose," Fury greeted.

"Hey, little man," Vanitas greeted as the cat climbed up into Vers's lap.

"No, Goose," Vers told him as she took him out of her lap with her other arm and placed him on the ground again.

The cat defied her and jumped up onto the dashboard and looked at them.

"Who's a good kitty, huh?" Fury asked. "Huh, Goose?" The cat laid down and regarded them. "Yes, that's right. Who's a good kitty, Goose? You the good kitty, that's right."

"See anyone you know?" Vers asked, handing the picture from earlier to Fury.

"Look at the pilot," Vanitas elaborated.

Fury looked at the picture, and his eyebrows furrowed at the sight.

"Funny story," Vers announced. "I arrived on Hala near dead. No memory. That was six years ago."

"So, you think you're the pilot that went down with Dr. Lawson?" Fury asked.

"I'm saying the last person to see them alive could probably tell us," Vers informed them.

"Maria Rambeau," Fury assessed.

"Mm-hmm," Vers confirmed. "So, how do we get to Louisiana?"

"Due East," Fury told her, gesturing with the paper to the sky in front of them. "Hang a right at Memphis."

"As long as we don't stop there, I'm in," Vanitas announced. "This is definitely getting pretty interesting, so I'm sticking around."

"Good to know," Fury told him with a smirk.

"That agent..." Vers said, getting their attentions again. "That stopped the Skrulls from finding us?"

"Coulson," Fury confirmed. "The new guy. I guess he doesn't hate me yet."

"Yeah, well, give him time," Vers told him with a slight smile.

"Maybe once he gets a view of your personality, that'll change his mind," Vanitas added.

Fury laughed as he looked at the two off worlders.

"I guess he had a feeling, you know?" he asked. "Went with his gut against orders. That's a really hard thing to do. But it's what keeps us human."

"Damn right, it is," Vanitas agreed.

"I get in trouble for that," Vers admitted. "A lot."

"You're joking," Vanitas said, sarcastically.

"Oh, I can see that about you," Fury admitted, and they all started laughing. "Rescuing the guy who sold you out to the Skrulls _and_ the guy you ended up fighting and destroying two cars with hours prior? I'm guessing that's not standard Kree operating procedure."

"Yeah, I found the handbook," Vanitas announced. "It definitely isn't."

"Well, I won't tell your bosses if you don't tell mine," Vers told them.

The three of them burst out laughing as they flew the air, ready for whatever was next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm anti-Trump. The dude's a dumb-ass, and he should be thrown in jail once he gets elected out of office. Plus, I got the lead singer of Green Day doing that from an edited post I found on Instagram. I feel like not many people would complain if that actually happened, especially with all the idiotic stuff he's been doing lately


	4. Chat About Pasts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas tells his friends a bit about his childhood...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we learn about how Eraqus found Vanitas, and why Vanitas didn't use his powers throughout Birth By Sleep (and not just because I gave him them at the last minute and even forgot about them during those final battles)
> 
> Actual flashbacks, not ones seen by Vanitas, are italicized

"...long story short, the goat ended up sleeping in my bed for a week!" Vanitas exclaimed while laughing.

Vers and Fury burst out laughing at the end of Vanitas's story. It was still taking them a while to reach Louisiana, so Vanitas figured it was time to tell his famous story of the goat at Thanksgiving. He had to admit, telling the story was making him miss his Uncle Tobias, who came up with the plan, and his drunk Uncle Howard, who helped him follow through with the plan. Especially his Uncle Tobias. After they testified against him at that trial, he seemingly disappeared from their lives. Given that he knew a thing now about disappearing for good, long whiles, he wouldn't put it past his uncle for finding a way to leave the world. He hoped he could find him and make amends.

"The worst part was that he kept trying to French me every night while I was trying to sleep," Vanitas admitted.

"Oh, _man!_ " Vers exclaimed, placing her free hand over her mouth to try to contain her laughing, _and_ keep the ship level during their flight.

"How?" Fury asked, raising his hands in surprise as he laughed. "Just, how was he able to get a freaking goat to tap dance to the beat of 'The Way You Look Tonight'?"

"That crazy bastard just had _way_ too much free time on his hands," Vanitas remarked, laughing.

"All right..." Vers said, doing her best to calm down. "Now we know about the funniest moment from your life. What about before that?"

"What do you mean?" Vanitas asked.

"When'd you get the Keyblade?" Vers asked. "Why'd you leave Earth 475 if you had a good family?"

"Hmm," Vanitas said with a slight nod of the head, having expected this. "Well, the first thing you guys should know is, I don't just have the Keyblade and the boots."

"What do you mean?" Fury asked.

 _This might answer your_ _questions,_ Vanitas thought, which they both heard in their heads.

Their eyes widened in surprise as they looked up at the ravenette.

"I've got a lot more powers than that," Vanitas elaborated. "I have telepathy, telekinesis, pyrokinetic abilities, crazy enhanced strength, and I can see visions of the past and the future."

"You can do all that _and_ you have a Keyblade with armor that can let you fly to other worlds?" Vers asked. "How the hell can you do that?"

"I don't exactly know everything," Vanitas admitted. "But I can tell you how I got chosen by the Keyblade...

* * *

_Eight years prior, Master Eraqus was on Earth 475 facing off against a gigantic Heartless deep in Brooklyn outside of most classic neighborhoods and cities. Eraqus pursued the large, lion like Heartless across the empty fields, honestly surprised. He didn't think there were many placed like this around this world, let alone this city._

_The lion ended up picking up a pretty good fight due to how fast it was. The Heartless knocked Eraqus around pretty wildly, and he was pretty sure if it was a real lion, he would have been dead three or four chomps ago._

_The lion then grabbed Eraqus by his arm and tossed him through the air. Eraqus landed roughly on the ground, and his Keyblade laded on the side in the grass. He looked up and breathed in and out as the the lion pawed its feet. The Heartless roared out in anger and charged forwards. Eraqus reached out for his Keyblade just as the lion lunged through the air at him..._

_And then it rose up into the air. The Heartless roared now in confusion as it was jerked around a bit, slightly violently. Eraqus furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and looked around. His eyes quickly caught on a young boy with spiked black hair not too far away. His arms were raised up, pointed at the raised Heartless. When the boy's hands slipped in one direction, the lion was suddenly jerked slightly in that direction._

_Eraqus quickly got the message and nodded slightly in thanks. He then picked up his Keyblade and pointed up with it._

_"Strike!" Eraqus exclaimed as electricity shot out._

_Thundaga came down in a powerful strike, which made the lion whimper out in defeat. The young boy slowly lowered the Heartless onto the ground, where it disappeared in a bright flash of light, with a crystal looking heart flying up in the air before it, too disappeared._

_Eraqus sighed in and out as he looked towards the young boy, seeing a woman with similar black hair, clearly his mother, walking towards the boy in worry. She followed his gaze to the Keyblade Master, who was standing up and looking at them in turn._

_Eraqus dismissed his Keyblade and walked over to them._

_"I have never seen anything like that before," he told them. "Whatever your boy did... he saved my life."_

_"You needed help," the boy told him. He looked up at his mom. "And she always taught me that when someone needs help, then I should help them if I can."_

_The woman smiled down at her son before looking up at Eraqus._

_"You're a Keyblade Master, aren't you?" the woman asked._

_"Eraqus," Eraqus introduced himself, holding out a hand._

_"Rochelle Jordan," the woman introduced herself, shaking the offered hand. "This is my son, Vanitas."_

_"You can call me V," Vanitas told the man. "Everyone does."_

_"How do you know of Keyblades?" Eraqus asked. "And how did your son do that?"_

_After a few seconds, Rochelle said, "Come inside."_

_Eraqus followed them into their two story house and sat at their dining room table. Rochelle poured him a cup of lemonade which he accepted gratefully. Surprisingly, the fifteen year old boy with wavy hair brushed to the side giving him Fuck Me Eyes and the five year old girl crying about her show not coming on didn't deteriorate the situation that much._

_"I want my Loud House!" little Eliza wailed._

_"Jack," Rochelle told the teenage boy. "Take your sister and set the channel to Nick East. It'll show the episodes she missed three hours ago. And stop giving Fuck Me Eyes to our guest."_

_"Yes, mom," Jack sighed out in annoyance. He picked up his little sister and raised him up in his arms. "Come on, Liza, let's go see that crazy ass family."_

_"Not crazier than ours," Vanitas muttered to Eraqus with a smirk._

_"Well," Rochelle announced as she sat at the table with her son and the Keyblade Master. "Where do you want to start?"_

_"Your son," Eraqus said. "How can he do that?"_

_"They're abilities he had from birth," Rochelle confirmed. "And it's not just moving things with his mind. He can hear other people's thoughts and make them hear his thoughts. He scared more than a few of his babysitters like that."_

_Vanitas gave a cocky smirk at that._

_"He also has pyrokinetic abilities," Rochelle added. "Plus side is, it means if the oven's broken, we have some way to cook dinner."_

_Vanitas smirked at her words._

_"And what about Keyblades?" Eraqus asked. "You are surprisingly okay with all of this, whereas most people would be freaking out for hours upon hours."_

_Rochelle paused at that, and Vanitas offered her a sympathetic look._

_"Vanitas's father," Rochelle answered. "He was...quite the interesting character, to say the least. When I met him, he didn't hesitate to tell me everything about the life he led. He just knew I was someone he could trust... Then he just left us to fend for ourselves against whatever could find us. The son of a bitch..."_

_Eraqus nodded his head at their story, understanding it couldn't have been easy for her to share all this._

_"If you don't mind me saying, Ma'am," Eraqus said. "Your son has great potential with him. The way I see it, he could become a Keyblade Master within the course of a few years, and with his abilities, he could do great things for the worlds."_

_"That's... very nice of you to say," Rochelle told him. "But another Master arrived here just a few months ago, and Vanitas turned him down."_

_Vanitas nodded his head at that, but refused eye contact with anyone in the room, which Eraqus immediately recognized as him hiding something._

_"Rochelle," Eraqus said. "Can I speak with him alone for a minute?"_

_"Well..." Rochelle said in thought. "Normally, if someone asks me that, I kick them in the nuts and report them to the police. But, the others weren't Keyblade Masters before. Just try not to intimidate him too much."_

_Rochelle picked up a bottle of juice for Eliza and followed Jack to the living room. Now alone in the room, Eraqus put a sympathetic hand on Vanitas's shoulder._

_"There's something you don't want your mom to know about, isn't there?" Eraqus asked him._

_Vanitas looked at him in surprise for a second before he looked down. He sighed out as he came to a decision._

_"There is another trick my mom doesn't know about," Vanitas admitted. "My best guess is... I can sense the levels of how good or how evil someone is on the inside. And this other Master that appeared... I was put off by his appearance alone. But when I sensed what was inside him, when I sensed how good and evil he was, I knew immediately he wasn't someone I should trust."_

_"What did he look like?" Eraqus asked, although he had a sneaking suspicion he already knew who it was._

_"Tan skin," Vanitas explained. "Bald head, and a long, silver goatee. Sort of like those stereotypical villains in Bond movies. His name went along the lines of... Zeya-something."_

_"Xehanort," Eraqus told him._

_"That's it," Vanitas said. "How'd you know?"_

_"He was an old friend of mine," Eraqus admitted. "But he fell to the darkness and went on his own path. This... sensing of good and evil... I think that's you telling how powerful someone is of either light or darkness. That would be essential going forward."_

_"Look, man, I don't even know if I want to be a Keyblade Master," Vanitas told him. "What makes you think that I would actually go with you just because you seem to be different than that weird guy."_

_Eraqus smirked slightly._

_"Because you said so yourself," he told the boy. "Your mom always taught you that when someone needs help, you do whatever you can help them. And as a Keyblade Master, you can do exactly like that on many different worlds, with all kinds of people that need it."_

_Vanitas took in his words and nodded slightly._

_"And besides..." Eraqus said with a slight whisper. "I know a part of you wants to find your dad and kick his ass for leaving you and your mom like this."_

_"You're not wrong about that," Vanitas admitted._

_Eraqus smiled. The then held his hand up and summoned his Keyblade. This time, he held it by the blade and held out the handle for Vanitas._

_"In your hand, take this key," Eraqus announced. "So long as you have the making, then through this simple act of taking...its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend... no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."_

_Vanitas took in his words with wide eyes of amazement. After a second of consideration, he decided to accept it, and reached out, understanding what the man meant. Vanitas held the handle of the Keyblade in his right hand, and could feel power surge through his hand and into his body, right into his heart. He breathed in and out as he released the blade, right before Eraqus dismissed it._

_"With the right training, you will be a great Keyblade Master," Eraqus informed him, patting him on the shoulder._

_"Will I go with you to another world, to receive this training?" Vanitas asked._

_"Yes," Eraqus confirmed, nodding his head. "I'm sorry to say you might have to go very long periods of not seeing your family."_

_"Mommy!" Eliza's voice screamed from the other room. "Mommy!"_

_"All I did was change the channel for two seconds!" Jack's voice exclaimed. "It was a commercial!"_

_"Can we leave now?" Vanitas asked eagerly, causing Eraqus to laugh._

_It was a sad mess all around, but Vanitas's family did agree it was probably the best way for Vanitas to learn so that he could help people out there, especially if it was what he wanted to do. Vanitas managed to get some bags packed and got ready to leave. He stood outside with his family saying their good-byes._

_"Come back soon," Eliza begged as she hugged Vanitas tightly._

_"I will," Vanitas told her. "I promise."_

_The little girl reluctantly let go of Vanitas and Jack walked forwards to place a hand on his little brother's shoulder._

_"Keep safe," Jack told him. "And remember all those lessons I taught you."_

_"Right," Vanitas said sarcastically. "'Cause it'll be really important to tell when the last time someone had sex was, or when the next time they'll do it just by looking at them."_

_Rochelle smacked Jack on the back of the head._

_"What'd I tell you about teaching him that?" she snapped at her son. "It's bad enough you give Fuck Me Eyes to everyone you meet."_

_"Story of my life," Jack muttered as he rubbed the back of his head and picked up Eliza once again. "Come on, let's go see if it's a good episode of the Loud House."_

_Eliza nodded, and Eraqus could see the siblings were both trying to keep brave faces, but in actuality, were hurting greatly on the inside because their brother had to leave. They rushed into the house pretty quickly, shutting the door with equal speed._

_Eraqus's attention was drawn back to mother and son as Rochelle kneeled down to look at her son face to face._

_"You sure this is what you want to do?" Rochelle asked._

_"I'm sure," Vanitas told her with a nod of the head and determination in his voice. He did his best to keep his lip from quivering to not portray how sad this was actually making him. "It's like you taught me, if I have the chance to do some good, then I should take it."_

_"Exactly," Rochelle said, looking down to hide her sadness for a second. She then looked back up at her son. "Now, if you're gonna go out in the different worlds, you're gonna have to remember the other lessons I taught you."_

_"Gays have no muscle tone," Vanitas announced, and she nodded her head. "When you get in a fight with a man, the fastest way to take him down is a kick to the nuts. Never mix khalula and vodka, it tastes terrible. When you don't know how to fight, but you're facing someone who does, there's no shame in running away."_

_"And what about hitting girls?" Rochelle asked, pointing a finger at him inquisitively._

_"If she's helpless and barely speaks, then don't lay a finger on her," Vanitas repeated. "But if she's malicious and willing to harm others, then beat the shit outta that bitch!"_

_"That's a good boy," Rochelle told Vanitas before wrapping him in a hug. "That's my good boy."_

_The two stayed like that for a few seconds before they reluctantly released from the hug. Mother and son shared one more look before Vanitas turned towards Eraqus and followed him across the field. Rochelle watched them go before she blinked and they both disappeared from sight. She sighed out before moving back towards her house._

_Some time later, Vanitas was in the grand room with Master Eraqus, standing at the ready. Eraqus walked over to Vanitas and kneeled down to get a better look at him._

_"The powers that you were born with," he announced. "You don't use them as much as you could. Why not?"_

_"Well, if we're really supposed to be keeping the World Order on the other worlds..." Vanitas started to say._

_"I want a real answer," Eraqus stopped him. "Not a fake answer, son. Just tell me the truth. I won't judge you."_

_Vanitas sighed out, knowing there was no way out._

_"I've seen those movies," he admitted. "Of people giving into the special powers they have too much. They get drunk on their own power, and eventually... that leads them into becoming villains. And that makes me nervous. What if that's why Xehanort wanted me all those months ago? Did he want me to give in, so that I could then give in to the darkness?"_

_"You're worried using your powers too much will lead to you becoming corrupted," Eraqus assessed._

_"Yeah," Vanitas confirmed. "And I don't want to do that. I have too many people I made a promise to to protect people. You, my mom, Jack, Eliza, my uncles Tobias, Howard, and Jonas, my nieces and nephews, even Terra and Aqua, and I haven't known them for too long. I do this... because I don't want to fall to the darkness, like Xehanort did. I don't want to do to someone what Xehanort did to you."_

_He pointed up at the scars on Eraqus's face, and he placed his hand on his cheek as the memory was still fresh in his mind, even these years later._

_"That is a valid fear," Eraqus admitted. "Every Keyblade Wielder's fear is becoming taken by the darkness. However, I'm not sure giving into your powers too much will actually lead to that."_

_Vanitas looked down, having already expected that he wouldn't understand._

_"But," Eraqus continued, causing Vanitas to look back up at him. "If you are really that determined to not use your powers like this... then I support you. If you really plan to be like this, then promise me you'll stick with it. Promise me you'll see this through, and use your powers when you're comfortable using them in battle."_

_"Okay," Vanitas agreed, nodding his head. "I promise."_

_"All right," Eraqus said, standing up straight once again. "Now grab the wooden sword, it's time for us to begin training."_

_"Okay," Vanitas agreed. "Once we're done, I can tell you this crazy story involving my Uncles Tobias and Howard."_

* * *

"...and to this day, I don't use my powers so much," Vanitas finished. "Even after all this time, I feel like if I do and fall to the darkness because of it, that'll be what Xehanort wanted. And I don't have just one family now. I have my blood family, and my Keyblade family. I keep them under wraps so that I can keep them both safe."

"That's honorable," Fury admitted with a slight nod of the head. "But stupid."

"What?" Vanitas asked.

"Come on," Vers added. "You're a Keyblade Master. Do you really think there's a chance that you could fall to the darkness that easily after all the training you've done?"

"Hey, you never know," Vanitas told them. "Especially with how that creepy ass Xehanort is. That's one guy whose mystery I can't figure out."

"And you're sure he's an enemy?" Fury asked. "Based on the level of darkness you could sense in him?"

"Oh, yeah," Vanitas confirmed. "That's the most practical one I have because it lets me know when someone could be an ally or an enemy."

"So when we met," Vers said. "You took one mental look at our lights and darknesses, and you could tell we were allies?"

"Well, not you," Vanitas admitted. "You introduced yourself by blasting me across a parking lot."

"He's got you there, Vers," Fury remarked with a slight smile.

"Oh, whatever," Vers said, looking back out at the sky in front of them.

"Hey," Fury said, looking from Vanitas to Goose. "Can you sense the levels of darkness and light in this good kitty?"

"I can't tell if you're joking or not," Vanitas admitted.

The trio let out a couple of more laughs as they continued flying through the sky.


	5. Truth in Louisiana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio reaches Maria Lambeau's house, where they learn a few things with help from the Skrulls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I got bored of writing for like, thirty six hours, so I didn't update. Went through all this 'cause we gotta get it out of the way so we can do 2, the Guardians of the Galaxy story, then the sequel and the next Avengers story

During the rest of the flight, Vanitas had a slight vision of the Kree Starforce Commander, Yon-Rogg, have a small meeting with their leader, Ronan. Ronan wanted to know where they were, but Yon-Rogg lied about it because they wanted to apprehend Vers on their own.

Vanitas shuddered slightly from the vision. He heard also heard of Ronan on top of all the other stuff of Kree and Starforce. That was one dude that made Vanitas almost as nervous as Xehanort did. Ronan and his team of Accusers were people he certainly hoped they didn't end up facing during this little "excursion."

They eventually reached the right location and exited the ship. They walked across the lawn towards a makeshift hanger with a biplane parked inside. Pop music was playing on a stereo somewhere nearby. Inside the hanger, an African American woman was working on something on a desk while a little girl, that they guessed was her daughter, sat in the pilot's seat for the plane, just playing.

Vers took the initiative while Vanitas and Fury stayed a few feet back watching. The blonde woman walked up to the edge of the hanger and stepped inside just a little bit.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Maria Rabmeau," Vers announced.

The woman looked up, and they were able to recognize her from the picture, possibly as Maria Rambeau.

"Auntie Carol?" the girl asked, getting out of the plane. She looked at Maria. "Mom, it's Auntie Carol!"

 _Auntie Carol?_ Vanitas telepathically asked in Fury's mind. The agent shared a look of confusion with him before they continued watching.

"I knew it!" the girl exclaimed as she ran forwards and gripped Vers in a hug. "Everyone said you were dead! But we knew they were lying."

She looked up and smiled at Vers, but that smile dropped slightly when she saw that the older woman wasn't smiling back.

"I'm not really who you think I am," Vers told her.

Vers looked up to see Maria walking slowly towards them, with a look on her face like she had seen a ghost.

"You sure about that, Vers?" Vanitas asked.

They went into the kitchen where Vers, Fury, and Vanitas tried to offer explanations about what was going on. Maria and her daughter, Monica, sat at the table while the others stood around the kitchen explaining.

"That is the craziest shit I have ever heard," Maria announced.

"Welcome to every day of my life, sister," Vanitas sighed out.

"Green transforming aliens?" Monica asked. "There's no such thing."

"You are absolutely right, young lady," Fury informed her. "There is no such thing. 'Cause if there were..." He looked up at Vers in an accusatory manner. "...we would want to keep that to ourselves."

"You don't believe me?" Vers asked Maria and Monica.

"Looks like this is one situation where it's okay to break the Order," Vanitas muttered as Vers walked over to a kettle on the stove.

Vers placed her hand on the kettle and let energy cover her hand. The energy heat up the kettle, causing it to whistle as steam blew out of the nozzle. Monica stood up and walked towards Vers a bit with her eyes wide and her jaw dropped.

"No way!" the kid exclaimed in excitement. "That's so cool!"

"Oh, she can do a lot more than make tea with those hands," Fury informed them.

"Big deal, I can do that," Vanitas announced.

He then held out his hand and a large fireball grew inside out of nowhere, and eyes widened before Vanitas extinguished it.

"Plus, I can do a lot more with this thing," Vanitas admitted, summoning his Keyblade.

"That eye makes me a little uneasy," Fury admitted, pointing to the Gazing Eye around the top of his Keyblade.

Vanitas followed his gaze.

"Yeah, me, too..." he admitted, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked up at it. "I have no damn clue how _this_ one chose me."

Vanitas dismissed his Keyblade, which lessoned the fear in some of the people in the room. Monica then realized something.

"I kept all your stuff," she told Vers. "I'll go get it."

The little girl ran out of the room, and Vers looked towards Fury and Vanitas, who were taking sips of the drinks they had been offered.

"You want to give her a hand with that?" Vers asked the boys.

"Hmm?" Fury asked, pointing to himself.

"Not it," Vanitas quickly announced, raising a hand.

"How old are you?" Fury asked Vanitas, eyebrow raised.

"Fifteen," Vanitas reminded him.

"Boy, come on," Fury told him, walking towards the door Monica walked out of.

Vanitas sighed out, following Fury past Maria, who was still staring at Vers in shock.

The two men followed the little girl up some stairs and Fury picked up the box she told them to grab. Inside were a bunch of pictures, some in frames, that they took with them downstairs and set on a small dining table.

"Come look!" Monica yelled out.

Fury set one more picture in the box while Monica set some more on the table. He and Vanitas stood back with their drinks as Vers walked into the room.

"This is you and me on Halloween," Monica explained, holding up a picture to show Vers. "I'm Amelia Earhart, and you're Janis Joplin."

"Hell of a lady, Earhart," Vanitas commented. He leaned in closer to whisper to Fury, "And if my intel is right, she's one hell of a Keyblade Master."

Fury's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Vanitas.

"Amelia Earhart is..." he started to say.

"On my Earth, apparently," Vanitas told him. "Master Eraqus told me he met her once on an excursion to this planet, Xandar. I think that's what really happened when they said she 'disappeared'."

"Oh, this is you when you were little," Monica continued, showing Vers another picture. "You didn't get along with your parents, so Mom said we became your real family."

"Family don't end with blood," Vanitas commented, nodding his head as he remembered the sage words of that drunk, redneck dude, Bobby, from Supernatural.

"This is us on Christmas," Monica continued, showing more pictures to Vers as Maria walked in to look with them. "I got my favorite bunny slippers. This is another picture of you when you were little..."

The words ended up blurring together in Vanitas's mind as he grew a little bored just watching them looking at pictures. So, he passed the time by playing the lyrics to his favorite Fall Out Boy songs in his head. He was just getting to the end of "Coffee's for Closers" when Monica exclaimed, "Oh, wait. I forgot. Your jacket."

She ran to the door and stopped to look up at Vers again. "Mom doesn't let me wear it anymore after I spilled ketchup on it."

"Been there," Vanitas smirked as the girl ran out the door.

Vers then looked over the remaining pictures on the table with a slight smile. She then pushed them aside and picked up a slightly burned metal badge with a piece broken off. Vanitas walked closer to read the words "Carol Dan" with words below it hard to make out.

"That was all that survived the crash," Maria informed them. "Or so we thought."

"Carol," Vanitas commented. "Gotta admit, that sounds a lot better than 'Vers'."

"He's not wrong," Fury agreed.

Knocking on the door in front of them garnered all their attentions. They were able to see the outline of someone through the curtain on the side window.

"Don't answer that," _Carol_ told Maria.

"It's just my neighbor," Maria told her friend.

"The green aliens," Vanitas reminded her, placing his empty glass.

"They can change into anyone," Carol added.

Fury pulled out his gun and Vanitas summoned his Keyblade. They stood at the sides, ready, while Carol opened the door to find an older man wearing a hat waiting there.

"Hi there," the man greeted.

"What do you want?" Carol asked.

"Uh..." the man started to say.

"Hey, Tom," Maria greeted, walking up to stand next to Carol at the door. "This is my friend, Carol."

"Oh," Tom said in understanding, holding out a hand. "Pleased to meet you."

Carol took his offered hand and shook it, but sent out a shock from the photon energy.

"Oh," Tom winced as he took his hand. "Static electricity out here's no joke."

 _You have no idea, dude_ , Vanitas thought.

"I noticed that peculiar bird you got parked by the road..." Tom explained, gesturing to the jet the trio had taken to get to this location. "...and I was just wondering if you mind if I bring the boys over to get a closer look-see?"

"A closer look-see?" Carol asked.

"Yeah," Tom confirmed.

"To see the 'bird' parked out by the road?" Carol asked.

 _Huh. I guess amnesia_ can _make you forget how country people talk_ , Vanitas thought. He looked up in irritation. _What else have you been lying to me about, mom?_

"Mmm," Carol said in thought as she frowned slightly at Tom. "You're really working overtime to sell this one, aren't you, Talos?"

Tom looked a little shocked by her words.

"I'm sorry, Tom," Maria told the man with an embarrassed slight smile. "This really isn't a good time. I'll come by tomorrow. Okay?"

"Uh..." Tom said with uncertainty as Maria started closing the door.

"Okay." Maria confirmed as she shut the door.

They four gathered together in front of the door, but then jumped at another voice, with Fury pointing his gun and Vanitas pointing his Keyblade in the direction of the voice.

"You know, you really should be kinder to your neighbors," Talos announced, being what caused them to jump. "You never know when you're going to need to borrow some sugar."

He lifted up a paper fast food up and took a sip from the straw. Vanitas walked forwards slightly with Carol, who had the photon energy gathering around her fists.

"Now, hang on a second," Talos announced, stopping them in their places. "Before you go swinging those jazz hands and giant key around, making a mess of your friend's house... It's a lovely home, miss."

"Oh, my god!" Maria exclaimed, looking out the window. "What the hell?"

Vanitas followed her gaze out the window to see... Maria, standing next to Monica, praising her for finding what he guessed was Carol's jacket.

"Shapeshifters," Vanitas reminded Maria.

"No one's gonna hurt the girl," Talos informed them. The next part he added with a slight chuckle. "Just... don't kill me. That would really complicate the situation."

 _You and I are gonna be real good friends_ , Vanitas thought with a slight smile.

"I'm about five seconds from complicating that wall with some ugly-ass Skrull brains," Fury announced, walking forwards with his gun raised at his head.

"I'm sorry I simmed your boss," Talos told him. "But now I stand before you as my true self. Without deception."

"And who is that out there?" Carol asked.

"Okay, that's a fair point..." Talos admitted. "...but I'm sure that you understand I had to take some precautions." He pointed at Carol. "I saw you crush 20 of my best men with your hands bound. I just wanna talk."

"Last time we talked, I ended up hanging from my ankles," Carol told the alien.

"Both valid points," Vanitas announced, raising his hands and dismissing his Keyblade.

"Who's side are you on?" Fury asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"I'll let you know as soon as I figure out what's going on," Vanitas told his friend.

"That was before I knew who you were," Talos told Carol. "Before I knew what made you different from the others. I have an audio recording from Pegasus of your voice from a plane crash six years ago, on a device I believe you call a 'black box'."

Fury lowered his gun slightly and lost some of the edge on his face at the alien's words.

"Oh, 90's," Vanitas repeated himself for, maybe the twelfth time since he had landed on this world.

"They told me it was destroyed in the crash," Maria remarked. "How'd you get it?"

"She don't understand," Talos remarked, looking over the four. His next words he spoke with just a smudge of arrogance on his face. "Young lady, I have a special skill that kind of allows me to get into places I'm not supposed to be."

"Call me 'young lady' again, and I'm gonna put my foot in a place it's not supposed to be," Maria told the alien.

Talos looked at her with his eyes wide before they became ones of confusion.

"Am I supposed to guess where that is?" he asked.

"Your ass," Fury, Carol, and Vanitas told him all at once.

"Okay, I get it," Talos relented. "We're all a little on edge here. But look, I just need your help decoding some coordinates. If you'll sit down and you'll listen to this, I assure you, it'll be worth your while."

"Looks like he's genuinely just here to negotiate," Vanitas told his friends.

Carol kept her steely expression as she looked from the alien leader to the window, at the one with Monica.

"Call your buddy back inside and I'll listen," she told Talos.

"Deal," Talos agreed, waving his hands.

Goose then suddenly appeared out of nowhere and purred while bunching up against the alien's legs. He then jumped in surprise and backed away from the cat.

"Oh, my god!" Talos exclaimed, causing the others to look down at Goose. "Get that thing away. How'd that get in here?"

Vanitas and Fury narrowed their eyes as they looked from Talos to the cat on the ground.

"Hmm?" Carol asked, leaning down to pick up Goose. She stood up straight and held him up towards Talos. "The cat?"

Talos whimpered a bit and jumped as he backed away from Carol and Fury, who were in turn walking towards him with Carol still holding out Goose.

"This isn't what you're afraid of, is it?" Carol asked.

"That's not a cat," Talos announced, placing a hand on the wall as Fury started laughing. "That's a Flerken."

"A Flerken?" Fury asked before he burst out laughing while Carol kept holding out Goose with a playful frown on her face.

Vanitas's eyes narrowed, trying to remember what he knew about Flerkens. He knew they had pocket dimensions in their mouths that could hold anything, and could teleport and summon tentacles with fanged maws from their mouths with which to attack and consume. But for the life of him, he couldn't remember what they looked like, so he couldn't tell if Talos was being serious or just bullshitting them. If only his telepathy worked with species that couldn't talk, then he could look into Goose's head and so he could figure it out himself.

"Mom?" Monica announced, and Fury put away his gun.

They all looked back to the door she came through see Monica standing there, looking confused as she looked up at Maria behind them. The Skrull converted back into its natural form just as Monica turned around to see it finish its transformation. The Skrull shrugged its shoulders as Monica looked back at the adults with her jaw dropped.

"That's exactly how I looked when I first met a Heartless," Vanitas announced, pointing at Monica.

The group moved out to a smaller cottage outside, where the computers were set up. Talos, Carol, and Fury started preparing things inside as Maria and Vanitas watched from the doorway, and Monica sat in a chair outside, looking up expectantly.

"Monica," Maria told her.

"Why can't I listen, too?" Monica asked. "He can listen."

"I'm not from this world," Vanitas reminded her. "And I'm a Keyblade Master."

"Shh," Maria told both of them, and Monica put her headphones in. She looked up at Vanitas in a reprimanding manner. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen," Vanitas answered. "And I trained how to use a Keyblade instead of going to middle school."

They walked further in the room and Maria took the disk Talos offered. Everyone gathered around the computer screen as Maria opened the disk tray and put it inside. She closed the disk, and the group watched as the computer processed it for a few seconds.

"What's happening?" Carol asked, not understanding what was going on.

"It's loading," Fury told her.

"This is what happens when technology is 32 years behind what you're used to," Vanitas muttered.

A tab labelled "CD Player" came up and started playing voices.

" _Punch in the coordinates 5-2-2-9, negative 4-7, 8.7-6-8, 0.2,_ " the voice of who Vanitas guessed was Dr. Lawson, aka Mar-Vell, announced on the recording.

" _Copy that_ ," Carol's voice remarked on the recording. " _Where are we going, Doc_?"

" _My laboratory_ ," Lawson answered.

" _Your laboratory?_ " Carol asked. " _What do you mean?_ "

" _Oh, no_ ," Lawson said.

" _Is that..._ " Carol started to say. " _Wait, what is that? It's not showing up on my radar._ "

" _Go, Carol_ ," Lawson ordered with more urgency in her voice. " _Fly!_ "

Vanitas saw in her mind that Carol was having a flashback back to when this exact thing happened. They were flying in a plane more than a few miles in space, just as another ship appeared behind them shooting laser blasts.

_"That's no MiG, Lawson," Carol in the vision exclaimed as she looked over her shoulder then back at the controls. "Who the hell are they?"_

_"Those are the bad guys," Lawson told her. "Fly faster now!"_

_"Yes, ma'am," Carol agreed, making the thrusters go faster._

_The ship started flying back into Earth's atmosphere with the now visible Kree ship following her. They spun around a couple of times trying to dodge the blasts._

_"What do they want?" Carol asked._

_"Me," Lawson admitted. "My work. I never should have brought you along."_

_The two ships continued flying through the air, with the Kree one still firing blasts towards the one Carol and Lawson were in._

_"Here come some G's," Carol announced._

_Carol made the ship lift up in the air and flew back a bit in a roll, at a point where it was now behind the Kree ship. The two ships spun through the air with Carol doing her best to fire at the Kree ship. Just as she started to get a lock on the Kree ship, it then started to fire its blasters behind at her and Lawson._

_"They're firing backwards," Carol announced. "Hold on!"_

_She spun the ship around once more, but the Kree ship still firing eventually finally did something when a laser blast exploded on one of the wings of the ship Carol was flying. The ship then started falling to the ground while spinning._

_"Bail out! Bail out! Bail out!" Carol announced before reaching down and pulling a lever under her seat._

_The top glass of the ship flew off, but parachutes didn't appear to ignite._

_"Stay with me, Lawson!" Carol announced, urgently._

_As the ship got closer to the ground, Carol pulled the lever up, just as the ground came into view. The ship leveled itself with the ground in recovery, but it was still out of control. The ship soon brushed against the tops of some trees, spraying leaves everywhere right before it fell towards the water. The ship skidded across the water like a jet ski as it got closer to a shore._

_The ship then soon crashed into a large rock, which exploded and sent pieces of it flying in multiple directions. The ship came apart piece by piece as it crashed along the beach shore, but the front half, including the cockpit, was spared as it slid through the sand. Carol and Lawson were still in the seats, still alive and (semi) well._

_"Carol, come in," Maria's voice insisted on the radio. "Do you copy?"_

_"Yeah, I copy," Carol said into the radio. "We hit ground."_

_"Carol, do you copy?" Maria asked again on the radio. "Do you copy?"_

_"Yeah!" Carol answered, not getting that it wasn't working while she took off her helmet. "I copy."_

_Carol got out of her seat and stood up on the still broken ship, walking towards Lawson. She lifted the woman's head up._

_"Doc?" Carol asked, reaching for the helmet to take it off. She then noticed something strange as Lawson woke up. "Your blood. It's blue."_

_"Yeah, but, uh, how's my hair?" Lawson asked, smile on her face. She then offered her arms. "Help me out, will ya?"_

_Carol released Lawson's safety belts, and helped the woman in pain out of the ship and onto the sand._

_"I gotta destroy it before they get here," Lawson announced before she collapsed onto the ground._

_"Lawson?" Carol asked._

_"You remember what I said about our work here?" Lawson asked woozily as she reached up for Carol. "What it's for?"_

_"To end wars?" Carol asked._

_"Yeah," Lawson agreed. "But the wars are bigger than you know." She winced. "Damn it!" She then looked up at Carol and shook her head. "My name is not Lawson. My real name is Mar-Vell, and I come from a planet called Hala."_

_Carol sighed out and cocked her head to the side._

_"I would say that you're delusional..." she admitted. "But... we just got shot down by a spaceship and... your blood is blue."_

_"Listen, I spent half my life fighting a shameful war," Mar-Vell told her. "Now, skedaddle before you give me any more regrets. Just remember the coordinates, okay? You gotta save 'em without me."_

_"Save who?" Carol asked. "How?"_

_"Now I gotta..." Mar-Vell said as she pulled a Kree gun out of her jumpsuit. "Blow this engine before they find it."_

_"What are you doing?" Carol asked as Mar-Vell started sitting up._

_Just as Mar-Vell was sitting up and pointing her gun at the remains of the ship, a green blast shot out and hit her in the chest. Carol watched as the woman fell onto her back in the sand._

_Breathing heavily, Carol picked up the gun and pointed it towards the smoke where the blast had come from. She stood up and looked around with uncertainty as she kept her gun pointed at the smoke. Eventually, Starforce leader, Yon-Rogg came through the smoke, walking towards her with a blaster in his hand._

_"We have no interest in hurting you," Yon-Rogg announced, which was true since his gun was pointing down._

_"No?" Carol asked, keeping the gun pointed at the Kree. "'Cause all the shooting kind of gave me the wrong impression!"_

_Yon-Rogg stopped and stared at her with a steely expression._

_"The energy core," he simply told her. "Where is it?"_

_"Pararescue's on the way," Carol told the man instead. "You have two minutes until you're surrounded."_

_"Then I see no reason to prolong this conversation," Yon-Rogg announced. He pointed his gun at Carol._

_"No, wait!" Carol told him._

_The two of them stared at each other with their guns raised for a few seconds._

_"You mean that energy core?" Carol asked, tilting her head towards what was now the back of the ship._

_Yon-Rogg followed her gaze to the back of the ship, pretty much confirming it to her. Carol then pointed her gun right at the glowing energy core._

_"No!" Yon-Rogg exclaimed as Carol pulled the trigger._

_A green laser blast shot out of the gun and into the energy core. It exploded, causing all the blue energy within to fly out, causing a large shockwave that Yon-Rogg jumped to the side to try to block. The shockwave threw back trees, pushed water, and destroyed the remains of the ship. However, Carol was the closest and instead of destroying her, the energy merged with her which enhanced her body greatly._

_Once the blast cleared, Carol was left unconscious on the ground with energy surging around her, and Yon-Rogg was nearby, slowly pushing himself up. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked towards Carol, who still had the energy surging around her._

_"Commander?" Kree sniper Minn-Erva announced from not too far away. "She's still moving. Permission to fire."_

_"Hold your fire," Yon-Rogg ordered, holding up his hand to signal for her to wait._

_Minn-Erva lowered her rifle as Yon-Rogg walked towards the unconscious form of Carol, putting away his own gun along the way._

_"There's nothing left," Minn-Erva announced, observing the remains of the ship. "The core has been destroyed."_

_Looking around, Yon-Rogg picked up a broken piece of metal with the letters V-E-R-S along the top._

_"She absorbed its power," he announced. "She's coming with us."_

_Energy still gathered around Carol's unconscious body, which eventually glowed brightly in her left hand, ending the vision._

Carol gasped with Vanitas as it ended. Her next course of action was to walk out of the cottage, soon followed by everyone else. She breathed in and out heavily as she stopped and turned to face the group.

"He lied to me," Carol announced. "Everything that I knew was a lie."

"Yon-Rogg, that son of a bitch," Vanitas announced. "You're lucky he just forced you to become a member of his squad. Trust me, things could have been a lot worse."

"Now, you understand," Talos remarked.

"What?" Carol asked. "What do I understand now?"

"Yon-Rogg killed Mar-Vell," Talos elaborated. "He killed her 'cause she found out that she was on the wrong side of an unjust war."

"No," Carol denied. "Your people are terrorists. They kill innocents. I saw the ruins on Torfa."

"Ruins that the Accusers are responsible for," Talos corrected her. "My people lived as refugees on Torfa. Homeless, ever since we resisted Kree rule and they destroyed our planet. And the handfuls of us that are left will be slaughtered next unless you help me finish what Mar-Vell started."

"Son of a bitch, this is exactly like the stories I heard," Vanitas announced.

"If you heard the stories, why didn't you try to help?" Fury asked.

"That's all they were to us, stories," Vanitas informed him. "We didn't know what was true or not. And we weren't gonna come to find out because we didn't want to get involved in a war that wasn't related to us. Keybladers went to war against each other thousands of years ago, and with how that ended, my Master has given me strict orders to not get involved in wars. And I listen to him, because it makes sense, even though every nerve throughout my body insists I join in whenever I hear about one. I don't get what it is, but I've been looking for an exception to that rule for like, two years." He looked at Talos. "Knowing that the Kree are doing this to the Skrulls seems like good enough of an exception of the rule."

Talos smirked in gratefulness before looking back at Carol.

"The core that she found would have powered a light-speed ship capable of carrying us to safety," he continued explaining to Carol. "A new home where the Kree can't reach us."

"Lawson always told us that our work at Pegasus wasn't to fight wars..." Maria announced. "But to end them."

"She wanted you to help us find the core," Talos continued.

"Well, I already destroyed it," Carol told him.

"No, you destroyed the engine," Talos corrected her. "The core that powered it is in a remote location. If you help us decode those coordinates, we can find it."

"You'll use it to destroy us," Carol remarked, looking at the two Skrulls.

Talos shook his head slightly before looking at her.

"We just want a home," he sighed out. "You and I lost everything at the hands of the Kree. Can't you see it now? You're not one of them."

After a pause, Carol calmly told him, "You don't know me. You have no idea who I am." She then snapped, "I don't even know who I am!"

That reminded Vanitas of his friend, Ventus. The poor boy appeared at their home four years ago from that bastard, Xehanort, with no memories about his past or who he even was, past his name. They were just lucky that he was able to acquaint to their lives, and become great friends with them all, even though Master Eraqus was still determined to make sure the blonde boy never left the castle.

In a way, Carol and Ventus were very much alike. Taken from their home with no memories, knowing nothing about themselves, and having to acquaint themselves in a new environment. Ventus just managed to luck out and be in a better environment and be in a more welcoming place than a Kree war town, but Carol lucked out in being able to find her way back to the world she was from. Carol had a lot more in common with one of his friends than Vanitas expected her to.

"You are Carol Danvers," Maria announced, drawing Vanitas out of his thoughts. She walked up to Carol, and Talos got the message to step away. "You are the woman on that black box risking her life to do the right thing." Her voice cracked as she said her next words. "My best friend... who supported me as a mother and a pilot when no one else did. You are smart, and funny, and a huge pain in the ass... and you are the most powerful person I knew... way before you could shoot fire from your fists. You hear me?"

Vanitas and Fury watched as tears started to build up in Carol's eyes.

"Do you hear me?" Maria repeated herself.

Carol slowly nodded her head and slowly started to smile at Maria. Maria then rapidly nodded her head and enveloped Carol in a hug.

"Come here," Maria's voice cracked again. "Come here, girl. I got you."

Vanitas smiled.

"Looks like we're taking on a group of Kree zealots out for war while saving a bunch of shapeshifting aliens," he announced.

Vanitas looked up at Fury, who cocked an eyebrow up.

"You sure you want to join in on this?" Fury asked. "Not sure this is something your Master would be okay with you doing?"

"Stopping some evil pricks from murdering innocent people because they wouldn't comply to their rule?" Vanitas asked. "This is right up my master's alley as a Master. It's what he taught me to become a Master for."

He smiled at his allies around him.

"Now let's stop a Starforce."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas did kind of having a point about Ventus and Carol being being in pretty similar bouts of hell. Something happened that changed them quite a lot, which included wiping their memories, and someone they'd end up fighting later on (Xehanort for Ventus and Yon-Rogg for Carol) took them to another world, where they had to make due with their new lives. I guess that's something they can trade horror stories on once we get to that point


	6. Mar-Vell's Laboratory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a little bit of planning, the group discovers what Mar-Vell was trying to do with her hidden laboratory

The group went back into the house and sat around the table, trying to figure out what the next course of action was supposed to be.

"I know I don't deserve your trust," Talos admitted to Carol. "...but you were our only lead. We discovered that your energy signature matched Mar-Vell's core. Now we know why. If only you knew the importance of it to me. I just need your help decoding the coordinates to Mar-Vell's lab."

"Those weren't coordinates," Carol told him. "They're state vectors."

"For orbital position and velocity," Fury elaborated through a mouthful of sandwich as Talos stood up.

"You didn't find her lab on Earth, 'cause it's not on Earth," Maria added.

"That makes sense," Vanitas admitted. "When I arrived outside the world, I sensed the presence of a different ship somewhere around the planet. I just didn't pay it too much mind because I was a little pre-occupied with the Skrull ship blowing to pieces and ejecting escape pods."

"Viable thing to distract you," Carol admitted before looking at Talos again. "Anyway, that was the location on the date of the crash six years ago. If we track its course, we'll find it in orbit right now."

"It's just basic physics," Maria commented before taking a sip of her drink.

Talos sighed out as they all looked over at the other Skrull, Norex, that tagged along.

"In orbit?" Talos asked, and Norex shrugged his shoulders. "Was that so difficult to figure out? I mean, you're my science guy, right?"

Norex nodded his head slightly, with a little embarrassment.

"Sometimes the most obvious answer can be staring you in the face, and you end up missing it, anyway," Vanitas commented. "Happens with me when I'm building with Legos with my nieces."

"Yon-Rogg will catch up to me soon," Carol announced. "We've got to get to the core before he does."

"Mmm," Fury hummed with sandwich still in his mouth. "We're going to space?"

"In what?" Carol asked.

"A few tweaks to your vessel should do it," Norex announced. "I can handle the modifications."

"Mmm. Your science guy," Fury told Talos, still with his mouth full before taking a sip of his drink.

"Quick talking with food in your mouth," Vanitas told him.

He and Fury then went to work helping the Skrulls make the right modifications to the ship while Carol talked Maria into helping copilot the ship into the atmosphere. Carol and Monica convinced her to go, under agreement that Maria's parents would watch Monica while they were up in the air. Maria went to greet her parents while Carol chatted with Monica, back in her Kree Starforce suit. Done with his part for the modifications, Vanitas walked over to the porch the two were sitting on.

"But there is something I need your help with," Carol told Monica. "I can't wear these Kree colors anymore."

"You think?" Vanitas asked as he stopped next to them. "The colors make that damn thing look like a knock off scuba suit."

"That's what I was thinking of!" Monica exclaimed in realization.

"Since when were you a fashionista?" Carol asked Vanitas, narrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"Since my brother of questionable sexuality keeps berating me for always wearing all black," Vanitas answered. *** _1_ ***

"Anyway," Carol continued, looking down at Monica. "Since you and... looks like him, are the only ones here with any sense of style..."

Monica and Vanitas followed Carol's example as she stood up on the porch and transformed the device on her left forearm into one consisting of color designs. Carol then went through options of colors, changing the suit to mostly purple with gold details.

"Whoa," Monica said in amazement.

"Is there anything that device _doesn't_ do?" Vanitas asked with a similar smile.

Carol kept the smile on her face as Monica went through the device, changing it to bright red and more brightly yellow details.

"No," Monica admitted.

"Definitely not," Vanitas agreed, shaking his head.

Monica scrolled through colors again, making it black with light grey designs.

"Uh-uh," Monica remarked.

"That just looks dirty," Vanitas commented.

Monica went through the colors again, and the suit suddenly became covered in neon lights consisting of purple, green, yellow and blue.

"Definitely not," Monica remarked as Carol laughed.

"That hurts my eyes," Vanitas remarked with a similar laugh.

Monica tried again, making the suit plain grey with green designs.

"Well, since we're on the same team..." Carol announced, gesturing to the US Air Force shirt Monica was wearing.

The girls smirked at each other, and Monica chose the colors red, blue, and yellow. Carol posed slightly as the colors blended into her suit.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"Fresh," Monica answered.

"Bad-ass," Vanitas added with a slight nod of the head.

Carol held out her hand to Monica, who high-fived it.

"Let's rock," Vanitas announced.

* * *

They managed to finish the modifications to the ship and started their flight sometime in the morning. The ship was high in the air as Vanitas sensed Yon-Rogg arriving and going to Norex's position, disguised as Carol as part of the trap. Norex failed at Yon-Rogg's test, and was shot and killed by the Kree, who then called in Ronan for reinforcements.

"We better hurry," Vanitas informed his allies. "They figured out Norex pretty fast, and called in backup from the Accusers."

"Then I guess time is of the essence," Carol assessed. "Passing 500 and climbing."

She and Maria were sitting in the pilots seats, and Fury and Talos were in the two chairs behind them. Vanitas stood behind Fury, resting his hand on the back of the chair and taking only a _little_ bit of advantage of his telekinesis by keeping himself steady as they flew up. Goose rested calmly in Fury's lap as the human pet him calmly. He clicked his tongue at the cat, both of them staring at each other.

"You know, you really shouldn't have that thing on your lap," Talos told Fury.

"Our little alliance with you is tenuous at best," Fury informed the alien. "And as long as he continues to freak you out..." He held the cat up to the alien's head, causing him to jump in fright. "...like that..." His next words were again in a tone of talking to a baby. "...yeah, I'm gonna keep giving him all the loves and hugs that he needs, right?"

Carol, Maria, and Vanitas smirked at the way Fury messed with Talos with the cat, then Vanitas smiled widely as the spy once again lost the tough persona with the cat.

"Can I ask you something?" Maria asked Talos. "Do you just turn into anything you want?"

"Ah, well, I have to see it first," Talos admitted.

"Can you all do it?" Maria asked.

"Physiologically?" Talos asked. "Yeah. But, uh, it takes practice... and um, dare I say it, talent to do it well."

"Can you turn into a cat?" Fury asked.

"What's a cat?" Talos asked.

Vanitas sighed out, now remembering that Flerkens tended to look like common house cats. He guessed that Talos and other aliens just assumed all cats were Flerkens. That would actually be useful in the future. If he wanted to scare some big, menacing alien away, just wave a cat at it and say it's a Flerken.

"What about a filing cabinet?" Maria asked.

"Why would I turn into a filing cabinet?" Talos asked.

"It can only be living things?" Vanitas asked.

"Yes," Talos answered, nodding his head in confirmation.

"A Venus flytrap?" Fury asked, eagerly. "I'll give you 50 bucks right now if you turn into a Venus flytrap."

Talos sighed out, furrowed his eyebrows in slight consideration, but then shook it off.

"Switching engines from Scramjet to Fusion," Carol announced. "Buckle up, folks."

She pushed the lever to make them go faster, and they did exactly that while flying directly up in the air. Vanitas whooped out in excitement as the ship flew faster up in the air, soon leaving the atmosphere of the planet and into space.

"Hey," Fury stammered out. "Is this normal, like, space turbulence?"

"Pretty much," Carol admitted.

"Exactly why I travel by boots," Vanitas remarked.

Talos shook his head slightly at Fury, who glared a bit at him in return.

They eventually broke the atmosphere completely and entered the void of space, where the engines shut down a bit, and the classic no gravity situation took over. Carol's hair floated up above them, along with items like Maria's sunglasses, a CD, a pen, and even Goose. The cat meowed up above the seats, and Fury held up his arm. Goose grabbed onto the offered arm, and allowed Fury to help him down.

Maria then hit a few switches, and the ship's gravity took affect, causing the items and Goose to drop back down.

"Locking in on coordinate grid," Carol announced.

Fury and Talos unstrapped themselves from their seats at her words.

"Where is it?" Maria asked.

The three men walked up to their level and crowded behind the seats to stare out of the front window.

"It's here," Talos announced, a slight bit of desperation in his voice. "It's gotta be here."

"Well, is it in front of all that nothing, or behind it?" Fury asked, with a little bit of his usual sass.

"It's nearby," Vanitas announced. "I can sense... something big, powerful, and with a lot of life signatures."

Carol lifted up her left forearm to work the device on it once again, which brought up a miniature schematic of what looked sort of like a ship.

" _De-cloaking activated_ ," the automated voice from the device announced.

They watched as bright light appeared in front of them, soon surging around to reveal a large enough ship in the air above them. Their eyes widened at the sight of the ship in front of them.

"That would be Mar-Vell's lab," Vanitas announced. "Shit, it's a whole damn Kree Imperial cruiser."

They piloted the ship through the front entrance gap, and eventually landed in the hanger. They exited the ship and the hanger and walked through the hallways of the ship, Vanitas with his Keyblade drawn just in case. Goose even trotted ahead of them on his paws, still not conforming with staying on the ship.

Talos stopped at an intersection of hallways and picked up a baseball that was just there on the ground. He then led them down the hallway in front of them then down the right hallway when they came to another intersection. Fury turned and observed the hallways around them as he walked.

They eventually reached a doorway and went through into what looked like a laboratory. There were large bits of equipment around with some large devices they didn't recognize. They did recognize the pinball machine and the jukebox on the other side of the room, though. They had no idea why those were there, but shrugged off the thoughts.

Talos and Fury led the way towards a certain place in the room where a glowing blue cube was held in place with some big clamps of metal. Goose climbed up and patted it curiously, as Carol walked up to it directly. Maria and the others' eyes widened at the sight of it.

"Is that it?" Maria asked. "The core?"

"In her notes, she called it the Tesseract," Carol announced.

"I heard the story of that," Vanitas announced. "It's the corporeal form of one of the Infinity Stones. The Space Stone, I think. It, along with the other five were created after the big bang thousands of years ago, forming as, like, the guards to this universe. They disappeared not long after, and have been hidden for millenia. I sense this one fell to Earth, and Mar-Vell used it to power up the engines. Only beings of great power can use it without being destroyed, though."

Carol took in his words as she simply took the cube out of the place and tossed it up in the air, catching it easily.

"That thing reacts to organic matter," Vanitas warned. "Be careful with who you hit with it."

Fury and Talos weren't paying to much attention to the glowing cube, just looking around other parts of the lab.

"Whoa," Maria said, looking at the little troll dolls on a table, along with a Rubix cube and a Fonzie lunch box. "What was Lawson doing with all this kid stuff?"

She picked up the lunch box and opened it, and Carol placed the Tesseract inside. Maria closed the lunch box pretty quickly after that, which Vanitas was happy about. He already had a Keyblade as one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, he didn't need another.

Fury then cleared his throat and gestured to the table. Maria and Vanitas followed his gaze to see a still fresh mug of coffee sitting on it.

"We're not alone," Maria assessed.

"Good thing I got this," Vanitas remarked, holding up his Keyblade.

"Man, you gotta do something about that eye," Maria commented, frowning at the Gazing Eye on the blade.

"Yeah, I can change the model with a different keychain," Vanitas admitted, gesturing to the keychain on the bottom of the blade. "As soon as I find another one."

Their attentions were drawn to Talos in the center of the room, who was bellowing out in a Skrull fashion that Vanitas remembered reading about. The doors to the room then started opening, and more Skrulls walked out, staring at Talos in amazement.

A female Skrull then ran up to Talos and enveloped him in a hug, breathing out his name in relief, before they touched noses. Vanitas couldn't exactly remember what that meant. More and more Skrulls of varying ages walked further in the room, staring in surprise and amazement at the newcomers.

"He didn't come here for the Tesseract," Carol assessed.

"A man would go to the ends of the earth to protect his family," Vanitas announced.

To further his point, the female Skrull, Soren, gestured to the shadows, and a child Skrull walked over to them. Talos greeted the child before regarding Soren, who Vanitas guessed was the man's wife.

"We didn't know what to do," Soren admitted. "Mar-Vell warned us not to send a signal for any reason, or the Kree would find us."

"You did the right thing," Talos assured her.

Vanitas smiled at the family reunion, missing his own family a bit while Fury leaned on the table. Soren looked towards them and jumped in fear at the sight of Carol, who was still wearing her Kree gear, even if it was a different color scheme.

"It's okay, it's okay," Talos assured his wife. Carol and Vanitas started walking over. "She's all right. She's a friend. So's the Keyblade Master. Turns out some of those legends were wrong."

"We are not gonna hurt you," Carol assured Talos's family.

"They led us to you," Talos assured them.

"I'm so sorry," Carol told Talos, tears growing in her eyes. "I didn't know."

"Carol," Talos said. "This is war. My hands are filthy from it, too. But we're here now. You found my family." He and Carol bowed their heads at each other, before looking back up. "This is just the beginning. There are thousands of us separated from each other, scattered throughout the galaxy."

"There's gotta be somewhere you guys can go," Vanitas assured them. "The galaxy is infinite. There's like, hundreds of uninhabited worlds out there. We should be able to find you guys one away from the Kree."

A child Kree then walked up to Carol and took her hand. He led the woman over to the arcade game, Space Invaders, gesturing up to the high score. Vanitas nodded his head, impressed at exactly how high the score was, as the kid pointed to himself, in a showing off manner. Vanitas smiled once again smiled at the kid's manner, because it reminded him of Eliza. Man, he missed that kid.

"If I played the same pinball machine for six years, I'd have some high scores, too," Fury remarked.

Carol joined Vanitas's smirking as the kid started pressing buttons on the machine to show off. The sound of the door sliding open nearby drew everyone's attentions, and their eyes widened.

Vanitas stepped away from the kid and moved into his battle stance as Yon-Rogg walked in with Korath, Minn-Erva, and other Kree soldiers behind him. He carried Goose roughly by the scruff on his neck, who meowed in displeasure.

"Fraternizing with the enemy?" Yon-Rogg asked.

"I think she did enough of that over the six years with you pricks," Vanitas remarked.

Fury pulled out his handgun, but the sound of "Uh-uh," garnered his attention. He looked up to see Minn-Erva pointing her laser rifle at him, and gesturing down to make the signal clear. He reluctantly put his hands up in surrender.

When Yon-Rogg started walking across the room, and Talos moved his family behind him in protection. Yon-Rogg tossed Goose to the ground, who once again meowed in displeasure, before the man looked up at Vanitas with wide eyes.

"Keyblade Master," Yon-Rogg announced. "And a pretty young one at that. If my intel is correct, then you must be... Vanitas Jordan."

"Nice to see my legend spreads so far and wide," Vanitas remarked.

"I wonder if the living thing lives up to the legend," Yon-Rogg taunted.

"Why don't you come find out?" Vanitas taunted back. *** _2_ ***

Yon-Rogg smirked at Vanitas before furrowing his eyebrows at Carol, all while other Kree raised their guns in warning at the Skrulls.

"What did you do to your uniform?" Yon-Rogg asked.

"I thought we made it better," Vanitas commented.

"They got in her head," Minn-Erva announced. "Just like we thought."

"The Supreme Intelligence will set her straight," Korath announced, keeping his blades raised at the Skrull to keep them corralled.

"You can see they're not soldiers," Talos told the Starforce. "Let 'em go. You can have me."

"And the core?" Yon-Rogg asked.

"You lied to me," Carol told the commander, anger and betrayal on her face.

"I made you the best version of yourself," Yon-Rogg defended his actions.

"Yeah, people don't normally like it when you do that to them," Vanitas snapped.

Carol tried having photon energy gather in her right fist, but it didn't work. She looked down in confusion before looking up at Yon-Rogg.

"What's given can be taken away," the Commander informed her.

Vanitas saw a device glow on Carol's neck, but that didn't stop her. She charged at Yon-Rogg, but was pretty quickly forced to the ground. Yon-Rogg then used the device on his forearm to lift her head up and hold it in place.

"Good thing I'm still..." Vanitas started to say, but his attention was drawn to the Kree corralling the Skrulls.

The Skrulls were being pushed down and restrained by Kree, along with Fury and Maria. One opened the Kree opened the lunch box to see the Tesseract, then nodded at Yon-Rogg. The Commander looked from his subordinate, then released Carol, who fell unconscious onto the ground. He then looked up at Vanitas with an eyebrow raised.

Looking around, Vanitas saw way too many people with guns aimed at innocent people than he could contain. He could throw his rule out the window to use his telekinesis to take guns out of, maybe two or three Kree hands, but not before the others unloaded onto innocent Skrulls. Sighing out, he dismissed his Keyblade and raised his hands in surrender.

"Damn it," Vanitas sighed out.

 _Dick head_ , Vanitas thought in Yon-Rogg's mind, which confused him for a second, but he brushed it off.

They were trapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 Hey, someone had to point out all the black Vanitas wore at this point. Why not his possibly gay brother?
> 
> *2 I figured banter between a hero and a villain before the big fights always has to happen, so why not include some for Vanitas? And it only makes sense that if V's heard of Starforce, then some of them have heard of him in return
> 
> Man, only 25 minutes left of this movie before the end credits. V won't be seeing the mid credits scene involving Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey, though, since that takes place in 2018, and this world is still in '95, and he has all the stuff with Xehanort after this story
> 
> Also, does anyone else think they overused the Tesseract a bit in these movies? I mean, I get that Mar-Vell used it for the power source, which ended up being what gave Carol her powers, in the same light that the Mind Stone gave Wanda and Pietro their powers, but why the Tesseract? What, are we supposed to believe she stole that from SHIELD successfully and no one went looking for it afterwards? Fury never mentioned anyone looking for it, so did they just give up?


	7. Flerken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group is taken captive by the Kree, but break out pretty quickly, to say the least

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's also a slight tease to show a bit on where Vanitas's extra powers come from

Vanitas, Fury, and Maria were bounded and forced into a room where they sat on barrels as the Kree soldiers assessed how dangerous they are. Along the way, the ravenette had a slight vision of Carol being corralled into a small chamber with the Starforce as they forced her to interface with the Supreme Intelligence. The Tesseract in the lunch box just rested on a table behind them. Carol tried fighting back against the telepathic interface, but at the moment, it wasn't working.

The vision ended as Vanitas looked up with Fury to see them scanning Goose. They announced that he was a Flerken, and he was a high threat, which caused Fury and Vanitas to raise eyebrows at each other in a "Are they serious?" manner. They winced as the Kree placed a little muzzle over Goose's face, as the cat meowed in displeasure.

"It's a cat, not Hannibal Lecter," Fury told them, worried for the cat.

The blue skinned Kree then went over to Fury and waved the device over him.

" _Species: human male_ ," the automated voice on the device. " _Threat: low to none_."

"That thing's clearly busted," Fury told his allies with his eyebrows furrowed in irritation.

Vanitas tried his hardest not to smirk as the device was then waved over him.

" _Species: male but not completely human_ ," the automated voice announced, and the ravenette's eyebrows furrowed in surprise. " _Half human, but the other half, more powerful. Nearly human, but stronger_."

"You're a hybrid?" Maria asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"It must be close enough to human," Vanitas remarked, surprised. "To the point it wouldn't be recognized by most blood work, which is probably why I was never taken away and dissected... But my mom never mentioned that!" His face became one of disgust. "Oh, man, my mom fucked an alien!?"

"Are you trying to give yourself nightmares?" Fury asked.

The device continued its analysis as the Kree put Goose in a high tech cat kennel.

" _Threat: high_ ," the automated voice finished.

"That sounds about right," Vanitas smirked.

The Kree then started wrapping stronger clamps around Vanitas, and even hand restraints that made it hard for him to move his fingers.

"You know, if you put down all your weapons, then maybe you'll succeed in making it a fair fight," Vanitas quipped before a clamp was placed over his mouth.

"Load the Flerken onto the _Helion_ ," Minn-Erva instructed soldiers, handing them the kennel with Goose to them. She gestured to the humans with her head. "Eject the others into space."

Fury's eyes widened at that.

 _Sorry, but I don't feel like being ejected into the void,_ Vanitas thought in their heads, causing the Kree to look around in confusion.

"Where did that come from?" Minn-Erva asked.

 _That would be me_ , Vanitas thought once again, and the Kree's attention was drawn to him. _Sorry, Master, but this is one situation where I'm gonna have to break that promise._

Vanitas stood directly up, and forced his arms against the clamps. Using his enhanced strength, the clamps broke easily, to the amazement of the Kree and humans watching.

"How strong are you?" Fury asked, looking up at Vanitas.

The ravenette shrugged his shoulders and looked at the Kree in front of them. One soldier was reaching for his rifle resting on a box, but Vanitas was faster. He was suddenly glad that his pyrokinetic abilities didn't exactly need his hands to work. Using his powers, Vanitas blinked, and the soldier was set in flames.

Vanitas took one look towards Minn-Erva, but the sniper was already down the hall, disappearing from sight. There was one other soldier with them, with his rifle pointed right at the still slightly bound ravenette, a little bit of fear in his eyes. Good. Vanitas pointed his bound hands at the soldier, and he was sent into the far wall behind them, and the cage with Goose clattered to the ground.

Vanitas then raised his bound hands up to his face, and surged his telekinesis through the large clamps. They opened and fell to the floor, clattering loudly. He then gripped the clamp on his face and ripped it off, breathing in and out.

"This is why your little promise is bullshit," Fury announced in his seat.

"Maybe," Vanitas admitted as he walked over to Maria and Fury. "But it's mine, and that's how I live."

He surged his telekinesis through their binds, which looked like futuristic handcuffs. The two rubbed their slightly sore wrists before Vanitas moved over to the kennel with Goose. He surged his powers through that, too, and the cat was released.

"You are one badass Freshman," Maria commented as Vanitas picked up Goose and stood with them.

"Yeah, I feel like I'd be pretty cool if I went to high school," Vanitas admitted with a chuckle. "Now, let's get moving."

They ran through the hallways, and Vanitas saw that Carol was starting to get somewhere against the Supreme Intelligence. Energy was surging in her hands in both the mental state and in her physical form, so the weird looking binds around her started to release as she got up on her knees. Power also started to flicker on the ship around them, which gave Vanitas a slight flash to see the cell the Skrulls were in was also going, making Talos smirk.

They stopped in the hallway as they came across some other soldiers. Fury and Maria started fighting them hand to hand as Vanitas saw in his vision, Carol burned out the device on the back of her neck suppressing her powers, and she surged energy all around, knocking down all of Starforce. She picked up the lunchbox with the Tesseract and ran out the door.

That ended, and Vanitas dropped Goose onto the ground. He used his telekinesis to lift the two Kree soldiers up, just as they knocked down Maria and Fury. But he didn't get to finish the job because the bright energy that surrounded Carol suddenly blasted the two across the hall, into a wall and unconscious on the ground.

The three looked up in amazement to see Carol staring at them, with the energy completely around her, even lifting her hair up and glowing in her eyes. The energy slowly faded and she smirked as she started walking over to them.

"You... know you're glowing, right?" Fury asked as he stood up with Goose in his hands.

"I'll explain it later," Carol told them.

"You unlocked your full potential, eh?" Vanitas asked, smile on his face and an eyebrow raised. "Badass."

Carol opened the lunchbox, showing them the Tesseract as they walked up to her, Fury removing the muzzle from around Goose's mouth.

"Take the Tesseract," Carol instructed. "Leave the lunchbox."

"Me?" Fury asked.

"Yes," Carol confirmed.

"I'm not touching that thing," Fury denied.

"For good reason," Vanitas announced. "Didn't you guys hear what I said back in the lab about it touching organic material?"

"No, you talk a lot, sometimes I drown out the stuff you say," Carol told him, and he furrowed his eyebrows in offense at her as she looked up at Fury. "You want me to get you an oven mitt?"

To everyone's surprise, large tentacles shot out of Goose's mouth. Fury held out the cat with wide eyes as the cat gulped down the Tesseract, and then retracted the tentacles.

"Oh!" Fury exclaimed in shock.

He dropped the cat to the ground, who just simply licked his paw as if that didn't happen. Maria and Fury's eyes and jaws were dropped in surprise, and Vanitas's were in amazement.

"Oh, my god, he really is a Flerken!" Vanitas exclaimed in child-like excitement. He kneeled down and started petting the cat similar to how Fury had done on the jet ride up there. "I never thought I'd see one in real life. Oh, now I remember, they look like house cats. I just assumed every alien had never seen a normal cat before. These things' mouths store pocket dimensions, which can hold anything. And it summons those tentacles to attack and consume." He pet Goose, and his next words were in a baby voice, "Oh, who's a good insatiable eating machine?"

"Anything else about... Flerkens?" Fury asked, still a little freaked out.

"Well, they possess cognitive intelligence," Vanitas admitted. He then looked up and said nonchalantly, "Oh, and they can lay eggs." *** _1_ ***

"Good to know," Maria remarked, eyes still wide at the cat... er, Flerken, on the ground.

"Get the Skrulls on the Quadjet and go," Carol told Maria, ignoring the whole show and explanation about Flerkens. She looked at Fury. "Take the... Flerken with you."

"I'll go with you," Vanitas announced, standing up.

"I can handle them myself," Carol told him.

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed. "But the less people with the alien carrying the Tesseract there are, then that means they won't think too much about it. Which means, they won't care about them escaping."

"That... actually makes sense," Carol admitted.

She started running down the hallway behind Fury with Vanitas.

"What about you?" Maria asked.

"We'll buy you some time!" Carol called back.

Fury looked from them, down to Goose with apprehension, as the cat kept staring up at him simply.

"I'm picking you up now," he told the cat with uncertainty. He did exactly that while Maria also grabbed the dropped rifle of a defeated Kree. "I'm trusting you not to eat me."

"Did you think I thought you couldn't do it?" Vanitas asked Carol as they ran down the hallway.

"Well," Carol started. "I thought you were one of those guys who..."

"You thought I thought you couldn't do it 'cause you're a woman?" Vanitas asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Carol didn't say anything.

"I was raised by a strong woman," Vanitas remarked. "I'm a strong supporter for women's rights, and I kick sexists' asses. People need to stop assuming the worst about people like that." *** _2_ ***

"Okay," Carol told him. "I'm sorry."

The rest of the run to another lab was in silence. They reached the room and stood on the railing while waiting for the Kree. Carol sat on the railing with her legs dangling down as Yon-Rogg entered with the blue skinned man that Vanitas finally sensed was named Att-Lass on the lower level.

"Oh, hey, guys," Carol greeted.

"Took you guys long enough," Vanitas remarked. "I could have played a Resident Evil campaign beginning to end without saving and gotten an S rank."

On the sides of the railing, Korath walked through with a big guy named Bron-Char, and Minn-Erva walked in with two more soldiers carrying rifles. Korath pulled out his swords and faced the duo. *** _3_ ***

"Arm wrestle for the Tesseract?" Carol asked, holding up the lunch box.

"If you guys want it to be slightly fair, I don't have to summon my Keyblade," Vanitas offered.

"I used to find you amusing," Yon-Rogg announced as Carol got off the railing and stood on the walkway back to back with Vanitas. "Let's put an end to this!"

Energy gathered around both Yon-Rogg and Bron-Char's forearm gadgets, and Vanitas summoned his Keyblade. Bron-Char charged, but then Carol sent out energy on the walkway they were on, which in turn was destroyed, sending people flying and big pieces of metal on Yon-Rogg, pinning him down. Korath tried holding on to where the walkway used to be, but Vanitas caught him with telekinesis and pulled him down onto the ground with them.

The ravenette had a slight vision of Fury and Maria moving through the halls again, but were quickly incapacitated by four Kree soldiers, and Maria's rifle got hammed. Goose then came to the rescue by sending out tentacles to toss around the soldiers before gulping them down. He once again meowed like nothing had happened.

"Okay," Maria said, sounding impressed.

"Good kitty," Fury praised, petting the Flerken's ears.

The vision ended as Bron-Char pushed aside the metal on top of him. The alien and Carol regarded each other for a second before they charged each other, and Carol sent out energy, knocking him into the jukebox. The two Kree soldiers with Minn-Erva jumped down off the ruined walkway, but Carol blasted them aside with energy once again, sending them flying into the wall, and herself back into an arcade machine. She brushed it off with a chuckle.

Vanitas meanwhile, had been fighting Korath sword to Keyblade. Turns out, the laser like extension on the blade made it pretty powerful against the magic blade. Korath swiped his blade across Vanitas's chest, and he left behind an image. The ravenette then appeared behind and above Korath, announcing "Nope!" as he slashed at the swordsman, knocking him into the pinball table.

During that, Carol dodged blasts from Minn-Erva's rifle, then used her own blasts to knock the woman to the ground before picking up the lunch box. Korath brushed aside Vanitas and tried swinging at Carol, who quickly caught the sword and broke it with her hand. She uppercutted Korath into the air then kicked him across the room.

"Hey, he was _my_ guy!" Vanitas exclaimed.

Carol ignored him and went to attack Minn-Erva next. She knocked the sniper's rifle aside, but she quickly picked up what she thought was a gun off the ground and pointed it at Carol.

"You knew all along," Carol remarked. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Is that why we never hung out?"

"No, I just never liked you," Minn-Erva told her.

She pulled the trigger, and the NERF gun shot a dart into Carol that bounced off and landed on the ground. The Kree looked down at the toy gun, then Vanitas lifted her up into the air with telekinesis. He smacked the woman into the roof, the floor, the wall, then tossed her aside like a rag doll.

"You steal mine, I steal yours," Vanitas told Carol, who had raised an eyebrow at him. "Evens things out."

Carol was interrupted from making a comeback by Bron-Char smashing the pinball table against her, knocking her to the ground. The man lifted the pinball table up into the air in an attack, but then Vanitas rushed forwards and used his enhanced strength to tackle the man back. The pinball table clattered to the ground broken as the two man tumbled across the floor. Att-Lass then pinned Carol to the ground as Vanitas placed his fingers against that pressure point where the neck met the shoulder, causing the alien to fall unconscious.

"Don't make me do this," Att-Lass told Carol, pressing a blaster to her back.

"Okay," Carol simply told him.

She held out her hand and shot out energy. This made her fly back through the air, tossing him aside as she landed on her feet. Two more Kree soldiers appeared, and Vanitas threw one aside with telekinesis while Carol blasted one with her energy.

Vanitas then had another slight vision involving Fury and Maria. They were stopped by two Kree soldiers with rifles once again, who were leading the Skrulls somewhere. The two shared a look before Fury held out Goose, who did nothing.

"Come on, do your thing!" Fury urged the cat. "Come on!" The Kree looked at each other confused. Fury urged the Flerken with a bit more desperation, "Come on!"

The alien meowed and jumped out of Fury's hands. He then wrapped himself around one of the Kree's legs while purring.

"Damn it, Goose," Fury reprimanded the Flerken. "Pick a side."

The soldier picked up Goose and looked at him then the soldier next to him.

"Take them to the hanger, too," he announced. "We'll blast them all into space."

The soldier walked up to Fury.

"Play it cool," he announced in Talos's voice, and Fury's eyebrows furrowed in realization. "Just like Havana." They started walking down the hallway. "Do you have the thing?"

"Flerken kitty ate it," Fury informed him.

The vision ended as Vanitas and Carol turned to see green energy surround all the broken bits of metal. The metal rose up, and Yon-Rogg stood up in the center of it all, staring at the two of them in anger.

"Hey, only _I'm_ allowed to have telekinesis!" Vanitas exclaimed in anger.

The Commander then picked them up with energy, and knocked Carol to the left, where she hit one of the things of energy which turned on. He continued by sending the broken bits of metal into Vanitas, knocking the ravenette onto his back.

Luckily the next vision was brief. He saw Talos and Fury take out the Skrulls that were in the hanger, with Talos's wife, Soren, trying to cover their daughter's eyes from it. They killed the soldiers and moved into the Quadjet, trying to move quickly.

Vanitas shrugged it off and stood as Yon-Rogg sent the large bits of broken metal towards Carol and him. Carol managed to knock the debris aside while Vanitas did front and back flips to dodge while trying to get closer. When Carol got close enough, the man just pushed her back and pinned her to the wall with debris. Vanitas swung his Keyblade at the Commander's head, who ducked and kicked him in the leg. Yon-Rogg then shot debris at Vanitas, sending him flying back.

Carol then burst the debris off of her as Yon-Rogg started walking closer to her with a knife. Unfortunately, the energy still surrounded her, which broke the handle of the lunch box. It fell to the ground and opened up, revealing a Happy Days thermos, but no Tesseract.

"Nice diversion," Yon-Rogg complimented.

"I could have swore I put it in there," Carol smirked.

"Maybe you mixed it up with that ham sandwich," Vanitas joked.

The smile quickly dropped from Yon-Rogg's face as he launched debris at Carol and Vanitas once again. They dodged the attacks, but the man was already running out the exit and down the hallway. They moved to follow, but Bron-Char stopped them by smacking Carol right in the face. Vanitas guessed that since he was an alien, the pressure point didn't work as long.

Korath then jumped out wielding another sword, and Vanitas intercepted his attacks with his Keyblade. He then knocked the sword out of the man's hand, and Carol knocked the man into the spinning core in front of them. Carol then kicked Bron-Char, then Vanitas lifted him up with telekinesis and tossed him into a wall again. Carol then kicked Korath as the man came around in the spinning core, knocking the man across the room and into another wall. The two then ran out of the room, after Yon-Rogg.

Along the way, Vanitas sensed that the man was with other soldiers, firing at the escaping Quadship. One blast hit Talos before the ramp had closed, and while he was in pain, he was still alive. Maria blew up the Kree ship in their way, which destroyed the force field in the hanger, and they flew out. Minn-Erva then got in a drop ship and flew after them as they flew back to Earth.

Sensing he was gonna need them, Vanitas summoned his boots, gloves, and helmet as he and Carol rounded the corner to the ship Yon-Rogg had climbed in. Carol landed on the ship and stared at the Commander, but before she could attack, the ground came out from beneath the ship, which took flight and went through space. Vanitas jumped down the giant hole in the ground and took flight after the ship.

Watching the ship closely as they reentered the atmosphere, Vanitas saw that Carol had the mask part of her suit cover her face and tried punching the glass, but was knocked off by Yon-Rogg. She fell quickly through the air, and Vanitas made his thrusters go as fast as they could to try to help. Right before Carol hit the ground, energy surrounded her once again, and Vanitas knew that she didn't need any help.

He then moved on after the Quadship, which was trying to deal with Minn-Erva in that drop ship. Luckily Maria was a great pilot, and managed to maneuver around a canyon and shoot down Minn-Erva, who's ship promptly blew up. She and Fury were able to celebrate for a few seconds before Yon-Rogg started shooting them in his stolen ship.

Then Carol flew past the Quadship and attacked Yon-Rogg's ship, making the man's eyes go wide in shock. Vanitas flew up next to Carol, and the two smiled at each other, with Carol not even trying to hide her excitement.

"Whoo!" she called out.

"Welcome to the club!" Vanitas told her as the two make backflips with their flying. "We meet on Thursdays!"

Back in the Quadship, Fury looked out the window with wide eyes before he and Maria looked at each other in equal confusion. He asked, "What the hell was that?"

Yon-Rogg's stolen ship crashed in the desert pretty hard, and the two flying people smirked at his misfortune. That changed when they looked up into sky to see the trademark sign of ships leaving a hyper jump.

"The Accusers," Vanitas announced. "Yon-Rogg called them in."

They watched as many giant missiles shot out of the ships, right towards the planet.

"Ballistic warheads!" Vanitas exclaimed, summoning his Keyblade.

He and Carol started flying towards the gigantic missiles, and Carol caught one with her bare hands. She grunted in effort as Vanitas flew up next to her and put his hands on the missile, as well. Working together, the two threw the ginormous missile up through the air much more easily than she could have done herself. The missile twirled through the air and hit another missile, which caused a massive chain reaction that left all the missiles destroying themselves in fiery explosions.

The two then flew up through the fire and right up towards the Accusers' ships. They broke the atmosphere of the planet, and smaller drones shot out and started flying towards them.

"You ready for this?" Vanitas asked Carol.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Carol rebutted.

The two of them dodged the laser blasts the small ships shot at them as they flew through the space. Carol blasted approaching ships with energy from her hands, and Vanitas blasted at them with light from his Keyblade, and giant fire balls from his own hands. At one point, he used his telekinesis to grab hold of two ships at once and smashed them into each other, destroying them both.

Carol was eventually hit by more than a few laser blasts, but they did pretty much nothing. Vanitas held up his Keyblade, which absorbed all the blasts that flew at him. Carol then flew quickly through space and right through many of the ships, and Vanitas slashed through the ones that got close to him before leaving behind a decoy image and teleporting behind others to slash through them as well.

Carol then surprised Vanitas even more by surrounding herself in energy and flying horizontally through the entirety of one of the Kree ships, causing the whole damn thing to explode within seconds.

 _I don't think I could do_ that, Vanitas thought.

Regardless, he flew beside Carol once again and the two of them flew up to the level of the control room of the main Accuser ship, where they could see the leader, Ronan, staring at them. The man didn't look as intimidating as Vanitas expected, but he put that down to the fact that he was floating in space without a vessel and just destroyed a bunch of the man's ships with the help of his similarly overpowered friend.

Carol released some energy in challenge, and Vanitas raised his Keyblade in the same manner. Within seconds, the three remaining Kree ships retreated back through the jump points. Vanitas raised his left hand for a high five, which Carol complied to.

The two of them then flew back onto Earth, and landed some distance from Yon-Rogg's crashed ship, with Carols powers making some electric towers go a little crazy before the energy and her mask faded. Vanitas even made his armor and Keyblade disappear as he walked beside her towards the Starforce Commander.

"You know, you didn't have to come for this part," Carol informed him.

"I know," Vanitas admitted. "I just wanted to watch you own this guy."

Once they got close enough, they saw Yon-Rogg has pulled out his gun and prepared the device on his left forearm. The heroes and the villain stood about fifteen feet away from each other, with each group shooting the other angry faces, while energy danced along Carol's fingers. After a few seconds of angry expressions, Yon-Rogg suddenly turned off the device on his wrist and put away his gun.

"I'm so proud of you," he told Carol, which just confused Vanitas. "You've come a long way since I found you that day by the lake. But can you keep your emotions in check long enough to take me on? Or will they get the better of you as always? I always told you... you'll be ready the day you can knock me down as yourself."

He stood in a stance like he was ready for a fist fight.

"This is that moment," Yon-Rogg continued. "This is that moment, Vers! Turn of the light show, and prove to me you can beat me without..."

Carol cut him off by blasting him with energy so powerful that it sent him flying through the air past his crashed ship and into a bunch of rocks far behind it. He landed painfully and Carol and Vanitas walked up to him. The man got on his elbows and looked up as they stood over him.

"I have nothing to prove to you," Carol simply told the Commander.

"Uh..." Yon-Rogg said with uncertainty. "Wh-what about the Keyblade Master?"

"I can kill you with my mind or completely immolate you by blinking," Vanitas told the man. "Plus, I never met you before today. I have nothing towards you."

Carol offered Yon-Rogg a hand, which he took, thinking that she was helping him up. Instead, she started dragging him across the desert ground and to the ship. They strapped him in nice and tight and set the autopilot's destination for Hala.

"I can't go back empty-handed," Yon-Rogg told them.

"You won't be empty-handed," Carol told him. "We're sending you a message. Tell the Supreme Intelligence that I'm coming to end it. The war. The lies. All of it."

"You can't do this," Yon-Rogg denied, shaking his head.

"We just did, dumb-ass," Vanitas remarked. "Or were you not paying attention?"

Carol pressed a button, and the engine turned on while also closing the hatch window. She and Vanitas stepped back, and Vanitas waved the man good-bye. Carol then shot energy out of her hand into the back rocket, and the ship quickly flew up into the air and out of the atmosphere.

Carol sighed out in determination while Vanitas re-summoned his armor and flew up to the Quadjet. He teleported in and dismissed his armor.

"Man, it has been one hell of a day," Vanitas sighed out, leaning against the frame of the cockpit.

"You're telling me," Maria sighed out.

Fury then lifted Goose up so that the Flerken was right in front of his face.

"That was a close call, huh, Goosey?" he asked the cat, once again in the baby voice. "Huh?" He placed his face closer to Goose's, laughing while the cat like creature meowed in displeasure. Fury didn't seem to notice that as he lifted the cat up in the air some more to look at his stomach. "Those bad guys still in there somewhere?"

Goose meowed in anger and slashed Fury right in the eye, and he exclaimed in pain.

"Ow!" Fury yelled. "Mother Flerken!"

"Man, even he was tired of that shit," Vanitas commented.

"You okay?" Maria asked.

"Yeah," Fury said. "It's just a scratch."

"No," Talos denied in a grave manner, shaking his head with some other Skrulls.

"At least he didn't eat you," Vanitas rationalized. "Huh. You went through all of that business with exploding ships and evil douche bags, but then you lose your eye to something posing as a common house cat... Dude, lie about how it happened, or you will lose respect from everyone you know."

"Way ahead of you, V," Fury agreed, looking up at Vanitas with his now one good eye.

They flew off towards the setting sun, content with a job well done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 I clicked on the link for "Flerken" on the wikipedia page for this movie, and it pulled up a full list of alien races in the Marvel universe, with slight descriptions about them. I used the description for Flerkens in Vanitas's explanation to the others about Goose
> 
> *2 This is also a problem I've seen before. People making problems out of nothing because of stupid reasons like that by just assuming the worst. Like Vanitas, I'm also against sexism against both men and women, and I hate it when people are always doing crap like that. That was another situation of Vanitas playing the audience surrogate. The first was his reaction to what happened on that train in the first chapter. I actually thought that stuff as Carol punched the Skrull disguised as the old lady
> 
> *3 I had to search through IMDB to get the names for those guys because the actors didn't have pictures on their wikipedia pages for me to figure out who was playing who. Luckily IMDB also works
> 
> Ah, close to the end for the prequel to Birth By Sleep. Just one more chapter...


	8. Marvel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group says good-bye... for now

The group regathered back at Maria's house that night for a celebratory dinner. Carol, Fury, Vanitas, Maria, Talos, and Soren sat around the table while Monica and Talos's daughter played Uno not too far away. Vanitas was tempted to join them, but he didn't want to leave his dinner just yet.

"I can't believe you got in the raddest dogfight ever and I missed it," Carol told Maria.

"I'd say you and V arrived just in time," Maria remarked.

"That's one of the things I'm best for," Vanitas admitted. "Great looks and good timing."

This caused laughs to erupt around the table.

"That was some nifty flying you did out there," Fury complimented Maria. "SHIELD could always use a good pilot like you."

"I'll consider it..." Maria told him. "As long as you never call my flying 'nifty' again."

Fury raised an eyebrow at her, and Vanitas joked in Carol's head, _And I thought my brother had weirder flirting skills._ The two shared a laugh that the others didn't understand.

"How's your eye?" Maria asked Fury.

"Hmm," Fury hummed, placing his hand over his damaged eye. "Getting better every second."

"Just so I'm clear..." Carol said, looking at Talos with her eyebrows furrowed in an impressed manner. "You were Soh-Larr, and the SHIELD agent?"

"Keller," Fury said as Talos nodded. "Tied my boss up, stole his identity."

"I borrowed his likeness," Talos corrected him. "I'm no thief."

"It's a little like stealing," Soren told her husband.

"Whose side are you on here?" Talos asked, putting a hand on his wife's back, as Carol and Vanitas smirked at him.

"You're good to go here until you recover..." Fury told Talos. "...but, you and your family are gonna need a new look."

"I could go back to being your boss," Talos suggested.

"Uh, please don't," Fury said before grabbing his drink.

"Come on," Talos insisted. "I loved sporting his beautiful blue eyes."

"No way," Monica announced as Fury and Vanitas laughed. "You guys have the best eyes." She put her hand on her friend's arm. "Don't ever change your eyes."

"She has beautiful eyes," Talos told the girl. "That's very sweet of you."

"Whatever happens, I'm sticking around," Vanitas announced. "This place is too cool to just pass up."

"I'll go over with SHIELD to make you an official member," Fury told him.

"Badass," Vanitas commented, taking a sip of his own drink.

"I'll help you find a home," Carol told Talos, causing him to look up at her. "Finish what Mar-Vell started."

"They can stay here with us," Monica tried insisting. "Can't they, mom?"

"They won't be safe here, baby," Maria told her daughter as she sat in her lap. "Auntie Carol's right. They need their own home."

"I'll be back before you know it," Carol promised.

"Or maybe, I could fly up and meet you halfway," Monica suggested.

"Ah, only if you learn to glow like your Auntie Carol," Fury remarked with a laugh.

"Or maybe I'll build a spaceship," Monica suggested. "Or be chosen by a Keyblade. You don't know."

"He doesn't," Carol agreed.

Fury quickly looked at her in shock, and she laughed with her friends.

"You never know with the Keyblade," Vanitas informed them. "Usually, they choose their own Masters. But it helps when you do the Initiation ceremony to someone."

"Like your Master did to you when you were seven," Fury said, remembering his friend's story.

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed. "The Master offers a Keyblade to someone, and it helps speed the process of being chosen up by, like, years. I got mine a year after the ceremony, and became a Master within the next four."

Monica then looked at him expectantly, as did Talos's daughter, whose name he never got.

"I'm not doing the ceremony with either of you," Vanitas immediately announced. "I'm not ready to have an apprentice."

"Yeah, we gotta register you as a new member of SHIELD," Fury announced. "With everything that just happened over the last two days, I think you might end up being pretty high ranked."

Vanitas smiled. He turned his head to look at his friend, but his attention was quickly drawn to a bright light through the windows next to the doors. Recognizing the light, Vanitas stood up and the others watched as he walked over to the door and opened it. Vanitas reached out for the light and caught it. The light then glowed brightly before fading, revealing a piece of paper.

"What is it?" Maria asked.

"It's a letter from my Master," Vanitas announced.

He closed the door and read over the letter pretty quickly.

"My friends, Terra and Aqua, are having their Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow," Vanitas announced excitedly. "If they pass, then they'll become Masters just like me! They're like siblings to me, I can't miss this."

He stopped and looked up at his friends, knowing what this now meant.

"Aw, damn it," Vanitas sighed out.

"I'll have an office ready for you at SHIELD once you get back," Fury told the ravenette.

After thanking Maria for a delicious meal (he was still a gentleman, after all), Vanitas went with Carol and Fury into the kitchen and helped them wash the dishes.

"So, since you're a Master, does that mean you'll help decide if they become Masters?" Fury asked.

"No, he said I would be left out of the decision," Vanitas told them. "He says he's sure I'd be biased and vote for them both to be Masters no matter what the outcome of the Exam is."

"Would you?" Carol asked.

"Oh, definitely," Vanitas admitted, nodding his head. "He made the right choice. Hell, I'd probably vote for them to be Masters if Terra took someone's eye out or Aqua jumped into the realm of darkness." *** _1_ ***

The other two laughed with him as they continued washing dishes. After a few seconds, Carol stopped laughing and grew a more serious tone.

"Keep the Tesseract on Earth," Carol told Fury. "Hidden."

"Oh, clearly," Fury informed her. "And we better do a better job of hiding it. That thing got stolen from the SHIELD vaults like, ten years ago, and people are still looking for it. But you sure that's what Marvel would want?" *** _2_ ***

"Mar-Vell," Carol corrected the man with a slight smirk.

"That's what he said," Vanitas defended his friend.

"Two words," Carol remarked. "Mar. Vell."

"Mar-Vell," Fury tested it out. He looked at Carol. "'Marvel' sounds a lot better. You know, like the Marvelettes?"

Carol and Vanitas furrowed their eyebrows at the man. He then picked up a scrubbing brush and pretended it was a microphone while singing "Please, Mister Postman" by the Marvelettes.

 _Oh, 90's_ , Vanitas thought one more time.

"Not ringing any bells?" Fury asked.

"Keep singing," Carol said with a smile. "Maybe it'll come back to me."

"Let me film it, it'll probably come back to me," Vanitas said with a smile.

Fury shook his head at his friends as they continued washing the dishes. After a few seconds, Carol reached into her pocket and took out Fury's pager, pressing a button to show the screen fill up with the symbols from her suit.

"I upgraded it," Carol explained to Fury as he dried his hands. "The range should be a couple galaxies, at least."

Fury smiled and reached for his pager, but then she moved it to the side.

"What?" he asked. "You think I'm gonna crank call you?"

 _I would_ , Vanitas thought in his mind.

 _I know, I was gonna_ , Fury admitted, which Vanitas heard.

"For emergencies only, okay?" Carol asked him.

Fury thought for a second before Vanitas sensed that he unfortunately agreed with that. He took the pager back and smiled down at it.

"Well..." Fury said, putting the pager back into his pocket. "If either of you are ever passing back through this galaxy, be sure to give a brother a shout."

"Hell, yeah," Vanitas agreed as Fury held out his fist.

The trio fist bumped three times, and on the last one, Carol sent out a slight bit of electricity, causing the men to laugh before they went back to work with the dishes.

Once they were done, Vanitas reluctantly said good-bye to Fury and walked out in front of the house with Carol, who dressed back up in her old Kree suit.

"Remember the instructions I gave you and Fury," Vanitas told Maria. "The company of Google is founded in three years. Invest a lot of money in it because trust me, it will be _very_ worth it by 2020."

"I'll keep it in mind," Maria chuckled.

Vanitas was waiting with Carol and Maria for Monica to come down the steps with her Carol's jacket.

"We got the ketchup stain out," Monica told her as she handed Carol the jacket.

Carol took it gratefully and slipped it back on.

"Thanks, Lieutenant Trouble," she said, gripping the young girl in a hug.

The two smiled at each other before Carol looked up at Maria, who looked close to tears.

"It's hard for me to say good-bye, too," Carol admitted.

"Then don't think of it as good-bye," Vanitas offered. "I was that same way when I left home with Master Eraqus. But deep down, I knew I would find my way back no matter what happened. And I know you're gonna do the same thing here. So it's not good-bye. It's really... 'see you soon'."

The two women smiled gratefully at Vanitas and his words before they grabbed each other in a hug. After a few seconds, they parted and smiled at each other again.

"Go on," Maria whispered.

Carol nodded slightly before she turned and started running down the road in front of them with Vanitas. Vanitas summoned his armor just as energy gathered around Carol, and the two rose up into the air. Monica ran forwards a few feet and watched them fly up in amazement before they disappeared from her view.

The two of them flew up into space and up to where the Kree ship with the Skrulls inside was waiting for Carol. They reached the front windshield where Talos was waiting at the controls with some other Skrulls. Vanitas nodded his head at the aliens, who waved good-bye. Talos then gestured to Carol in a spinning motion, signaling the ship would be turning.

Carol looked down at the world below them for a few seconds in good-bye, then looked at Vanitas next to her. The two nodded at each other in good-bye before she flew quickly alongside the starship. Vanitas watched as she and the ship eventually entered hyper speed, and disappeared from sight. He then looked down at the world below him.

 _I'll be back_ , he promised himself. _Eventually._

With that, Vanitas turned himself towards the right path to the Land of Departure, and began his flight to his surrogate home.

* * *

The next day, Nick Fury sat at his desk going over the idea he had for the Protector Initiative, which was heavily influenced by Carol and Vanitas, and he hoped would be chosen by his superiors. There was a round piece of metal over his ruined left eye, held there by tape. His attention was drawn to a knock on the door before Phil Coulson walked in. He stopped and looked up as Phil walked over to his desk carrying a box.

"Glad to have you back, sir," Phil announced before offering the box. "This came for you."

Nick took the box, set it down, and opened it. He looked down at the many options of glass eyes in consideration.

"So, is it true?" Phil asked, getting Nick's attention once again. "That the Kree burned your eye out because you refused to give them the Tesseract?"

"I will neither confirm nor deny the facts of that story," Nick said in a vague manner, remembering Vanitas's advice.

"Understood," Phil said. "I'm sorry to report that we still haven't found the Tesseract. Ten years, then we finally get a lead, and it slips out of our grasp once again."

"I'm sure it'll turn up somewhere," Nick remarked, looking from the eyes on the table to Goose sitting in his bed on the floor. The cat like creature meowed at his owner.

"I'll let you know when it does," Phil informed him.

"Then what?" Nick asked, looking up at Phil in thought.

"Sir?" Phil asked.

"We have no idea what other intergalactic threats are out there," Nick told him. "And we can't always count on short, Japanese haired, American voiced people with giant keys to help us out. And on top of that, our one woman security force had a prior commitment on the other side of the universe."

He sighed out as he looked over the starts of his proposal once again.

"SHIELD alone can't protect us," Nick announced. "We need to find more."

"More weapons?" Phil asked.

"More heroes," Nick corrected him.

"You think you can find others like them?" Phil asked.

"Hmm, we found those two, and we weren't even looking," Nick told him.

Phil nodded his head at that.

"Get some rest, sir," he offered. He gestured to the many glass eyes. "You got a big decision to make."

Phil turned and walked out of the room as Nick set aside the box of glass eyes. He then rifled through the file for Carol once again, and found a picture of her standing with her plane from when she was in the Air Force. He studied it intently, seeing that her title was Capt. Carol "Avenger" Danvers.

Without a second thought, Nick placed the picture down and started clacking keys. Within seconds, he was smiling, as he had changed the name from The Protector Initiative, to The Avenger Initiative.

* * *

As Vanitas flew through the Lanes Between towards the Land of Departure, he had a slight vision of Goose, in Nick's office. The cat climbed up onto the desk and started gagging, giving the appearance of having a hair ball. Vanitas laughed loudly as the cat coughed up the Tesseract, which fell onto the desk covered in cat spit. Like everything else, Goose just shrugged off that amazing thing he did by simply licking his leg to clean himself.

Vanitas sighed out, hoping he'd get to see the cat again soon. He already had the plan lined up: after the Mark of Mastery exam, he'd follow through with Ven's plan to use his telekinesis to make Terra and Aqua kiss, so they'd finally understand they need to be together. Then he'd stop using his powers for a while. This little "expedition" was more than enough usage of them for the last week alone. After that, he'd check back with Nick to confirm that membership with SHIELD, then go back home to finally ask his mom who his dad was.

Little did he know, something was brewing. Something big. Something dark. Something that was about to make sure that he wouldn't see his friends on Earth 616, or his family back on Earth 475 for a long...

Long...

Long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 Hey, if you can't have fun with a prequel, then why make one? Plus, the answer to your other question, Celene, about why he couldn't help decide on Terra becoming a Master
> 
> *2 SOMEONE had to point it out
> 
> And now the Captain Marvel story's out of the way, and the little gaps of Vanitas's backstory are filled in. He was recruited by Eraqus when he was seven, didn't use his powers because of a promise to himself to never be corrupted, and assumed overuse of powers was the way to becoming corrupted, he crashed onto Earth 616 with Carol, they fought each other then fought the Skrulls, during which he found out he's not exactly completely human, and Vanitas had to leave for his friend's Mark of Mastery Exam. The not completely human bit will get explained. If you want a hint, well, remember when Vanitas asked Odin about the Greek gods? Well, there was something similar to a Percy Jackson situation on his Earth. More on that later.
> 
> Anyways, now that this is over, up next is Kingdom Hearts II, and I have an idea for the name that I plan on applying to the story about Kingdom Hearts 1. You'll see what I mean. During that story, they'll be meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy, for a smidge of the diversity that was provided throughout Phase II. And if you got the hint back in the Days story, then you know that KHII is when Vanitas gets his life force back. The worst part is that someone in the comments figured out what "Specific Moment" in II I was talking about that can give him back his life force. I wanted it to be a surprise. Well, I digress. Hope you enjoyed my first prequel story!

**Author's Note:**

> I'll admit, I'm not the biggest fan of the character of Captain Marvel, or this movie. I mean, it's a good movie, but it tries too hard with over the top feminist stuff, and I hate movies like that, that go overboard to prove a point. I believe we're all equal, with no group better than the other, and it pisses me off that there are people out there that try to make it seem that one group (gender/race/ethnicity/etc.) is better than the other


End file.
